CARIBOU, Maine — More than 1,200 Emera Maine customers in Caribou lost power for more than two hours Tuesday.
There was speculation the outage may have been because of extensive road work taking place in the city, but it was caused by a broken insulator, according to Emera Maine communication specialist Bob Potts.
“An insulator is often made of porcelain or glass, and is maybe the size of a softball or bigger,” Potts said. “Since water can get inside, it can turn to ice, melt and turn back to ice, which results in damage. This is especially true when you’re looking at a place like Caribou with such extreme climate changes.”
Potts said the outage started around 11:30 a.m. and power was back on at 1:45.
Outages don’t normally last that long, he said, but in this case the insulator was located in a hard to reach right of way, resulting in a longer repair time.