Update: Accident Occurred During Scheduled Maintenance, Compounding East End Power Outage

Update Friday, February 21: Power Line Maintenance Work That Was Underway When Box Truck Took Out Transmission Pole Contributed To Widespread Outage

After a motor vehicle accident on the North Fork took down a transmission pole on Thursday and 28,500 ratepayers lost power on the East End, many residents asked how the effects of one accident could be so far-reaching. A PSEG Long Island spokesperson explained on Friday morning that the reason the outage was widespread was because the accident affected a backup circuit at the same time that scheduled maintenance was underway.

“A motor vehicle accident in Southold affected the main backup transmission circuit to the East End while PSEG Long Island was performing scheduled maintenance on de-energized lines,” PSEG Long Island director of communications Katy Tatzel said in a statement. “When the backup transmission circuit was affected, it took out power to the East End. We quickly restored power back to the lines that were de-energized for maintenance and the electric load was restored on the East End.”

The accident occurred in the morning along County Road 48 near the Kenneys Road intersection and involved a box truck. A wooden transmission pole toppled and lay in the road, and cables that were still attached to the pole obstructed the road further. Power was restored within a few hours.

“PSEG Long Island is always working to improve the reliability of the grid such as adding redundancies to the transmission lines,” Tatzel said. “That’s why projects like the new Bridgehampton to Buell 69kV, which is currently under construction, are so important in the East End. They improve reliability and build redundancies to minimize disruptions caused by outside factors such as motor vehicle accidents and weather related events.”

The new 69kV transmission line is expected to be completed by this summer, in new underground conduit within the existing right of way between the Bridgehampton substation in Bridgehampton and the Buell substation in East Hampton.

“If the Bridgehampton to Buell line was in service for yesterday’s events, there would have been no loss of customer load,” Tatzel added. “This emphasizes the importance of this reliability project on the South Fork.”


Update: 2:46 p.m. Thursday, February 20

Power has been restored after a motor vehicle accident in Southold this morning knocked out electricity for many PSEG Long Island customers on the South Fork and North Forks.

“Our crews responded this morning to a motor vehicle accident impacting more than 28,000 customers across the North and South Fork of Long Island,” a PSEG Long Island spokesperson said in an email at 2:36 p.m. “Thanks to their hard work, all customers now have power.”

Original:

A widespread power outage that started this morning, Thursday, February 20, is affecting much of the East End.

Outages are reported from Hamptons Bays and Southampton east to Montauk, from Southold east to Orient and on Shelter Island.

PSEG Long Island’s outage map reports about 28,500 customers across their service area are currently without power.

“We are aware of the outages,“ a PSEG spokesperson wrote in an email at 11:10 a.m. “There was a motor vehicle accident impacting a transmission circuit, while additional scheduled maintenance outages were ongoing. We are actively working to restore the power back as quickly and safely as possible.”

The accident occurred on Country Road 48 in Southold, near the Kenneys Road intersection.