A major power outage has left tens of thousands of homes and businesses in Sydney's eastern suburbs in the dark.
About 45,000 customers in suburbs including Double Bay, Edgecliff and Bondi Junction lost power about 11.20am on Thursday. Ausgrid said it was investigating the cause of the outage.
Traffic lights are out in many parts of the eastern suburbs, including Double Bay.Credit:Ben Grubb
"Emergency crews will need to locate and isolate the fault before they can restore power safely," Ausgrid said in a statement.
At 12.20pm, power had been restored to 10,000 homes and businesses around the Double Bay area, but Ausgrid said crews were still working to restore power to another 35,000 customers in the eastern suburbs area.
The outage has been widely felt and affected services at Sydney Children's Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital which are both in Randwick.
Coogee Public School was experiencing a total blackout, with no phone, internet, bells or electricity at all, according to an email sent to parents by the principal of the school.
The blackout has also affected Waverley Council's phones as well as its library and customer service centre.
At least 23 traffic lights were blacked out through Maroubra, Randwick, Clovelly, Kensington, Coogee, Bondi and Double Bay due to the power outage.
Traffic signal crews are being deployed with generators to manage the situation, a Transport Management Centre spokeswoman said, and motorists are being advised to exercise caution.
An Ausgrid spokeswoman said crews were investigating whether the outage was caused by an underground cable fault.
While the Double Bay has had power restored, other areas like Clovelly may not have power until mid-afternoon.
Ausgrid said affected areas include parts of Randwick, Bondi Junction, Bondi, Kensington, Waverley, Double Bay, Woollahra, Bronte, Bellevue Hill, Clovelly, Coogee, Rose Bay, Queens Park, Edgecliff, Point Piper, Paddington, Tamarama, Bondi Beach and parts of nearby areas.
There were power outages around Menai and Engadine in Sydney’s south earlier on Thursday, with about 1800 customers affected. Power was restored in about three hours.
The blackouts come after news two NSW power stations broke down on Wednesday, leaving a potential shortfall in back-up power for Thursday.
The Australian Energy Market Operator, which controls the power supply for the grid, reassured customers in NSW there was still plenty of energy in the system.
"AEMO continues to work around the clock to keep our energy system secure. Even with forecast temperatures in NSW hitting the high 30s today, as at 10.30am there is more than 1,000 MW of energy reserves forecast to be in place to lean on if required," an AEMO spokeswoman said.
Temperatures have soared in Sydney, with the Bureau of Meteorology updating its Thursday forecast to predicting it will reach tops of 40 degrees in the west and the city.
Just before midday on Thursday it was 32.9 degrees at Observatory Hill, 31.1 degrees on Sydney Harbour and 35.2 degrees at Sydney Airport.
With Laura Chung
Rachel Clun is a journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald.
Covering energy and policy at Fairfax Media.
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