Empire Electric Association announced about 3 p.m. Tuesday that the east side of Cortez experienced a large power outage and cut power to more 2,318 customers for about two hours.
Power was restored about 5 p.m., according to an announcement at 5:50 p.m.
Initially its cause was unknown, but Empire commented on The Journal’s Facebook page that it was caused by birds.
“It’s not uncommon for birds, squirrels and other animals to get where they’re not supposed to,” said Andy Carter, a member engagement manager at Empire Electric.
It’s rare that a substation goes out, though, which is what happened this afternoon. Essentially, the birds landed in its transformer, which caused the whole substation to shut down as a way of protecting itself, Carter said.
It’s just the insulators that need replacing – not the transformer – so damages were expected to be repaired before 5:30 p.m.
