A power pole fire in Long Gully caused about 700 residents to lose their electricity supply. Picture: File
THREE separate faults on a Powercor feeder line have caused 3330 residents to lose power today.
In Strathfieldsaye about 1584 houses lost power. Junortoun, Eppalock, Strathdale, Quarry Hill and Kennington residents were also heavily affected.
Shortly before 9.30am a tree fell through power lines at Junortoun causing a major blackout. A conductor fault at Strathfieldsaye and a fault at Condon Street in Strathdale have also been recorded.
A Powercor spokesman said crews were working to restore each fault along the line, which begins at the Bendigo sub station and stretches out toward Eppalock.
He said power would be progressively restored to customers and hoped to have everyone back online about 1pm. About 99 customers in the region are still without power.
Earlier today a build up of dust and debris sparked a power pole fire, causing about 700 local Powercor customers to lose their electricity supply.
The Powercor spokesman said the pole fire started about 3.30am at the corner of Sparrowhawk Road and Stray Street, Long Gully.
Power was restored to affected residents about 8.40am.
"It looks like the cause of the fire is what we call pollution," the spokesman said.
"It's basically dust and debris and other things, that during a dry spell, get caught up in the poles.
"When we have light rain like we did overnight, that stuff gets wet and makes contact with the conductor.
"That then sparks and starts a small fire which then causes a short and affects the power."
The power outage caused some traffic signals to stop working and police were called to divert traffic at Creeth Street and Eaglehawk Road.
Power technicians are believed to have replaced a cross arm and insulator on the power pole that was damaged by the fire.