Electricity supply to Cork businesses restored

Hundreds of business customers who were hit by a power cut in Cork city centre earlier today have had their electricity supply restored by the ESB.

An ESB spokesman said recent street excavations which caused damage to underground cables are believed to have been responsible.

The damage to the power lines was not caused today, but may have been triggered by bad weather, the spokesman said. It was originally believed the power cut was caused by a fault at a substation.

"Again, we would appeal to anyone who intends to carry out digging or excavations to notify us in advance," he said.

The spokesman said there was a reconnection charge for which those responsible for damaging electricity cables could be held responsible.

Several hundred businesses in the commercial centre of Cork were left without power for up to two hours when the supply tripped out at 12.30 p.m. The ESB spokesman said engineers restored power to around 90 per cent of customers within an hour and to the remaining 10 per cent within two hours.

An investigation is underway into the exact cause of the power cut.