TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – An electrical fault at a substation caused a massive power outage for TEP customers on Wednesday, Nov. 12.
TEP said the incident happened at a 46-kilovolt substation that “provides service to several areas of town.”
The outage, which impacted more than 18,000 customers at its height, started around 2 p.m. TEP said it lasted for one hour and 10 minutes.
“We inspected our system but could not identify a cause,” TEP said. “After determining it was safe to re-energize our equipment, we were able to bring most customers back into service. We’ll continue to inspect and monitor the substation and related systems.”
As of 4:30 p.m., around 300 TEP customers were still without service.
During the outage, 13 News has received reports of traffic lights being out in Tucson and Oro Valley.
The Oro Valley Police Department confirmed it had officers on Oracle Road helping direct traffic.
The OVPD said there has been at least one crash due to the outages.
“We are asking drivers to choose alternate routes to avoid congestion, and to treat any intersection with a non-functional traffic light as a four-way stop,” the OVPD said.
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