Power Outage Leaves Lenox in the Dark
LENOX, Mass. — Despite what some may have thought, an angry GE didn't leave the town in the dark.The power went out in Town Hall — and to some 3,500 other National Grid customers — about a half hour before the presentation of a controversial plan to clean the Housatonic River of toxins left by General Electric.
Emergency back ups were put in place and the show went on there, but the rest of the surrounding area didn't get the light until nearly three hours later.
The problem was a substation maintained by Western Massachusetts Electric Co., according to National Grid spokesman David Graves. "Until they figure out the problem at their substation we can't service our customers."
Graves said the substation lost power at 6:07 p.m., knocking out power to Lenox, Stockbridge and West Stockbridge.
Frank Poirot, spokesman for WMECo, confirmed the problem, just minutes after the power came back up for nearly 2,700 customers for the two utilities.
"The most current information is the customers have been restored," said Poirot shortly after 9 p.m. "We don't know what the problem was at this point; they'll take a closer look at the cause tonight and maybe tomorrow."
Two lines from the substation feed National Grid customers. Graves said if at least one had come back online, the electric company would be able restore power.
Power had been restored to about 900 National Grid customers before 8:30 p.m., leaving 2,600 still out just before 9 p.m. along with just over 100 WMECo customers.
