A tree branch that fell on a power line early Wednesday morning led to an electricity outage that affected parts of Aleisa, Tanumapua, Tuanaimato, Tafaigata, Faleula Uta, Malie and Leulumoega.

Electric Power Corporation Chief Executive Officer, Faumui Iese Toimoana, told  the Samoa Observer in a telephone interview on Wednesday that a tree branch short circuited a high voltage line at Faleula.

He said the tree branch touching the high voltage line led to an overcurrent protection relay which isolated the West 1 feeder line and led to the outage.

“Our fault service team had managed to fix the fault and the West 1 feeder was back to normal around 2am (on Wednesday morning),” Faumui told this newspaper.

The C.E.O. then apologised to the E.P.C. customers living in the affected suburbs for the power outage.

“We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused,” he said.

Ironically the unscheduled power outage early Wednesday morning also coincided with a planned power interruption in Letogo, Laulii, Leusoalii to luatuanuu and Solosolo, Eva, Saoluafata as well as Salelesi and parts of lufilufi.

Faumui said in a post on the E.P.C. official Facebook page that the interrupted outage had to be done in order to upgrade a high voltage electricity line in the affected areas as well as parts of Solosolo. 

Meanwhile E.P.C. employees have undergone first aid training run by the humanitarian organisation Samoa Red Cross Society.

The training was tailor-made for the performance of life-saving interventions in a working environment as well as at home.

In March 2019 a 21-year-old E.P.C. employee died from electrocution while working on an electricity pole. 

The man joined the State-owned utility company in 2018 after graduating from the National University of Samoa.

It is understood he died while in a harness that was tied to a power pole while doing repairs and accidently slipped, leading to him fatally holding the power line for support.