Arizona Utility Worker Accidentally Shuts Off Power For 6 Million Customers

What could possibly be worse than losing power during a major storm or other natural disaster, how about losing your power because a power worker accidentally turns it off. That’s what happened on Friday when an Arizona employee was attempting to move a piece of monitoring equipment and accidentally cut off power to 6 million Arizona, southern California and Mexico based customers.

A spokesman for Arizona Public Service later announced:

“This was not a deliberate act. The employee was just switching out a piece of equipment that was problematic.”

The loss of power was especially painful for customers in San Diego who were faced with searing heat and no air conditioning because of the power outage.

The worker’s actions also caused two nuclear generators to go offline.

According to the Associated Press:

Power was restored last night for some dozen cities in San Diego and Orange counties in California. But most people affected were spending the night without power. “It feels like you’re in an oven and you can’t escape,” said an official working in California’s baking eastern desert. Officials are investigating why a problem in Arizona spread to such a large area. They have ruled out terrorism.

Perhaps a few more fail safes should be put into place, especially during the searing hot months.