Local communities in the north of Scotland hit by a power outage on Wednesday evening have had their electricity fully restored. The power cut, which hit supplies around 20:30 affected areas from Fort William in the Highlands through Moray and Caithness to Orkney and Shetland. Also hit were the Western Isles and Skye.
In a statement on Wednesday evening, SSE said: “We are currently experiencing a major transmission network fault affecting the Highlands, Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland.
“Our engineers are being mobilised to primary locations to begin the restoration of supplies. The nature of the fault is incredibly severe and at this time we are unable to confirm a restoration time.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
However by midnight, all homes had been reconnected by the power company after it mobilised its engineers.
Following confirmation that power had been fully restored following the power outage in the north of Scotland, First Minister Alex Salmond said: “This was a serious power outage affecting communities across the Highlands and Islands, including Stornoway, where I am meeting with members of my Cabinet tomorrow. Earlier this evening I chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Committee where it was made clear the network operator was working quickly to restore power to all affected homes. I welcome the news that action has now been completed tonight.”