Eighteen customers were without power in the city Wednesday night into Thursday morning because of a transformer failure in Pottsville.
"A submersible transformer located in a vault under the main street in Pottsville failed at 6:41 p.m." Wednesday, Martha Herron, PPL's regional community relations director, said Thursday about the transformer in the 100 block of West Market Street, which is Route 209.
Power was restored to those affected in the building that houses Wells Fargo Bank and other offices on Centre Street at 9:21 a.m. Thursday, she said.
A section of Market Street in Pottsville was closed Thursday as PPL officials were waiting for jersey barriers to be set up to protect a temporary transformer after the old one was removed.
A new vault and transformer are on order, Herron said.
The temporary transformer is surrounded by a fence.
The reason for the failure is not known.
"Sometimes that happens," Herron said.
She did not know the age of the equipment. A PPL person on scene Thursday who declined to provide his name said both lanes of Market Street were expected to be open later in the day, but the barriers will remain in place until the issue is resolved.
There will be no parking on that block of Market Street during that time.
Herron said the work will be completed as soon as possible.
Prior to the failure of the transformer, the building that houses Wells Fargo Bank at 101 N. Centre St. had experienced flickering lights and other electrical issues Wednesday.
Andrew D. Umphrey, manager of the bank, said Thursday the lights started flickering about 10 a.m. Wednesday. He later called 911 and requested that someone come out to check the loud humming noise in the basement.
A supervisor with the Schuylkill County Communications Center said the fire department was dispatched at 11:28 a.m. Wednesday for water in the basement and electrical issues.
"They have a series of electrical issues with the transformer in the basement," the supervisor said.
Pottsville fire Chief Todd March said Thursday the entire city fire department responded Wednesday, but only three companies remained on scene as a precaution.
March later called PPL about the issue. Umphrey said he called an electrician who turned off the power.
Umphrey said the transformer in the building was fine.
March said there was a loud humming noise coming from the basement and noticeable water on the floor, although not a lot.
"We stayed until they got the power shut off to the transformer," March said.
Market Street was closed Wednesday for about 15 minutes until the fire companies that did respond and didn't stay could leave, March said.
"Centre Street was always open," he said.
March said bank employees were asked to leave the building as a precaution. They then entered later to close up the building.
Umphrey said the bank was closed about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, but the last customers left the building about 10:30 a.m., he said. The employees were sent to other banks to work. Umphrey and another employee remained outside to direct customers to other bank locations.
The bank resumed normal operations Thursday.