Repeated power outages in Santon under investigation

Engineers are struggling to pin-point the fault due to a rare fault

Manx Utilities is continuing to investigate a series of recurring power outages in the Santon area caused by a rare type of electrical fault.

Known as a 'transient fault', the issue can temporarily self-repair making it difficult to locate and resolve until it becomes permanent or more frequent.

Over the past few weeks Santon residents have experienced multiple interruptions to their power supply:

• 10–11 November: A power cable failure near the Energy from Waste Plant caused outages for 500 customers with most restored within 90 minutes.
• 20 November: A transient fault triggered protection equipment at a substation leaving 500 customers without power for three to four hours.
• 21 November: Another recurrence saw the same number of customers affected for one to one-and-a-half hours.
• 22 November: Further outages affected 500 customers for around an hour.
• 26–27 November: The fault reoccurred impacting 250 customers for approximately one hour on each occasion.

Manx Utilities has conducted patrols, located and replaced a broken insulator, and reconfigured the 11,000-volt network to minimise disruption.

However the fault persists and appears to be linked to colder temperatures.

A spokesperson said: “This type of fault is rare and we apologise to those affected.

"We remain committed to identifying the cause and will take urgent action to repair the network as soon as the issue is located.”

Manx Utilities has warned that further disruption is possible while investigations continue but thanked residents for their patience.