At approximately 23:50 last night, a total blackout was experienced.

The GEA has issued a statement that explains the cause of the blackout was identified as having been a fault in one of the two power transformer enclosures at the North Mole Power Station.

'This fault resulted in a loud bang, which those residing in the vicinity of the power station might have heard, as well as smoke seen emanating from the Low Voltage side of the affected transformer enclosure. The GEA is happy to advise that none of its employees were hurt as a result.

The electrical protection in place isolated the fault as expected, but as a result the ‘inhouse’ power supply to most power station auxiliaries, such as the pumps, fans, amongst others, was interrupted thus bringing the whole power plant to a stop.

The second transformer, which also has 100% capacity to power up all the power station auxiliaries was configured and duly powered up, allowing for the restoration process to commence at approximately 01:03 this morning, with the power supply to all our Customers restored by 01:58.

It is good practice from an electrical engineering perspective to have more than one power transformer that supplies house load, precisely to counteract the failure of one.

We have this morning commenced the investigation into the cause of the failure and will be engaging with the equipment manufacturer.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused, and thank you for your continued support.'