All government, private offices and businesses that were affected due to a power outage in Phuentsholing resumed their work yesterday evening after the Bhutan Power Corporation (BPC) restored the power line.

The power disruption that occurred around 9:50pm on May 7 affected almost all residents in Phuentsholing.

While what caused the power outage is not known, it was learnt that it occurred after the 11kv switchgear was burned at the BPC’s power substation.

BPC’s officiating regional director, Sonam Thinley, said the exact details of the incident are yet to be known. “A team is studying the cause.”

Two BPC workers were also admitted to hospital due for smoke inhalation. They were sent home after it was confirmed that they did not suffer any injury or harm.

Meanwhile, the entire Internet facility and office systems were down in Phuentsholing due to the power disruption.

Kuensel learnt that Bank of Bhutan’s (BoB) whole data centre was down at the time when the incident occurred. It had impacted the bank’s transactions nationwide.

However, BoB had used an alternative power system yesterday morning from 6am and the data centre was initiated again. This supported all branch offices across the country, except for Phuentsholing branch.

Customs, immigration, factories within Phuentsholing were also affected by the power disruption.

BPC officials initiated to divert and supply power from a 33kv line. “As there is no problem with the transformer, we provided electricity from another line,” Sonam Thinley said.

Rajesh Rai | Phuentsholing

Advertisement