Nearly 2,000 homes and businesses in northeast Bartholomew County, including the entire town of Hope, lost electricity for about three hours Wednesday morning.
First reported at 7:20 a.m., the outage was caused by a transmission line that fell from a utility pole into a ditch along County Road 600N, about one mile east of the Armuth Acres subdivision, according to representatives from Duke Energy and Bartholomew County REMC.
Since there was no bad weather at the time, Duke spokesman Chip Orben says an investigation into what caused the line to drop is ongoing.
“It could have been an animal, but we really don’t know at this time,” Orben said.
The transmission line that runs to a substation near Hope is shared by both utilities, REMC spokesperson Marty Lasure said. Slightly over half of those who lost electricity are members of the Rural Electric Membership Cooperative, she said.
When utility crews arrived a quarter mile east of County Road 350E, they discovered the transmission line was still hot and sparking, Orben said.
The line had to first be de-energized before crews were able to perform some line switching that restored power before they began making permanent repairs, Orben said.
Records show Duke customers had their electricity restored at 10:07 a.m. All affected REMC customers in Flat Rock, Clifty and Clay township had their power back on by 10:30 a.m., Lasure said.
