Yukon Energy says a malfunction at its Whitehorse substation caused more than 7,800 customers to lose power Dec. 11. (Joel Krahn/Yukon News file)

Lunchtime power outage plunges parts of south Yukon into darkness

Power to 7,800 residents was out for up to 90 minutes

More than 7,800 Yukoners lost power for up to 90 minutes Monday.

“Our crews were doing some equipment upgrades in the Whitehorse substation,” Yukon Energy tweeted. “During that work we had a unexpected malfunction of equipment in the substation and our transformer tripped.”

The incident knocked out power to most of Whitehorse, plus Carcross, Tagish and the South Alaska Highway as far as Teslin, said ATCO Electric Yukon spokesperson Stephanie Cunha in an email.

Cunha said the power outage began around 11:25 a.m. Power was restored to customers starting around 11:50 a.m., with power fully restored before 1 p.m., she said.

Contact Chris Windeyer at editor@yukon-news.com

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