UPDATE:
Why were many people in Orillia eating by candlelight Wednesday night?
Hydro One officials say it was due to an equipment failure in a metering unit.
Tiziana Baccega Rosa, Hydro One's senior media relations advisor, said the outage began just before 6:30 p.m., impacting about 7,400 customers.
"Crews were immediately dispatched to patrol the power line to determine the location and cause of the outage," Baccega Rosa explained in an email Thursday morning.
"Once the failed piece of equipment was identified, our grid control operators worked to restore customers in stages by supplying them through an alternate line while our crews on the ground made the necessary repairs," she said.
"All customers were restored just after midnight."
She acknowledged the lengthy outage poses challenges for people
"Being without power is challenging," she noted. "We thank our customers for their patience as our crews and grid operators worked as quickly and as safely as possible to restore power. "
ORIGINAL STORY:
Thousands of customers were without power tonight due to an outage impacting a large section of Orillia.
At around 8 p.m., Hydro One's outage map indicated more than 6,700 customers were without electricity.
That number was later revised upward to more than 7,000 without power with the outage extending northward.
As a result of the outage, tonight's showing of The Long Weekend at the Orillia Opera House was canceled and the Orillia Public Library closed early.
Crews were working in the area with an estimated time of restoration originally set at 9 p.m.
However as of 9:20 p.m., with power still out, Hydro One indicated it was reassessing the restoration time and later estimated power would be restored by midnight.
As of around 10 p.m. the cause of the outage was still pending classification.
