mmg.com.au

Almost 1700 Deniliquin homes and businesses lost power on Sunday morning after a ute crashed into a Crispe St power pole.

The force of the crash caused the power pole, adjacent the Deniliquin RSL Club bowling greens, to snap off at the base.

According to police, the pole landed about 20m from its original position.

The alleged driver of the vehicle reportedly fled from the scene but was spoken to by police at his home.

Essential Energy crews worked through the night to replace the pole and reconnect the electricity network.

Most homes had power by 3am, but others closer to the snapped power pole were not reconnected until at least 9am.

All of south east Deniliquin was affected by the power outage, with reports that homes as far south as Sloane St and Hetherington St were without electricity.

End St businesses were also impacted, as well as the Hardinge St shopping plaza where Baker’s Delight night staff lost all power.

At the Exchange Hotel in End St, some patrons allegedly hurled chairs out onto the street, smashed glasses and stole display items under the cover of darkness.

The sword in the hotel’s knight display was taken out of the glass cabinet but recovered, but the pub’s NSW State of Origin jumper is still missing.

At the Deniliquin RSL Club, chief executive officer Luke Stephenson said all patrons were already out of the club when the outage occurred.

With the power pole just metres from the club, all power was lost.

Mr Stephenson said the back-up power kicked in, providing some basic lighting.

‘‘We had to work a bit later, until about 2.30am, to ensure everything was right, and staff came in early on Sunday morning as well.

‘‘We had to cancel the weekly breakfast, but we were able to be back up for our 10am opening.

‘‘We had power restored by about 9.30am.’’

Residents close to where the crash occurred are also believed to have been without power until 9am.

Among them were Todd and Catherine Newman in Mann St, who said many of their neighbours were cut off until about 9am.

‘‘We woke up about 4am and noticed the power was out,’’ Mrs Newman said.

‘‘We expected it to be on by about 7am at the latest, but it was more like 8.45am.

‘‘Once it was restored, someone from (Essential) Energy had knocked on the door to make sure it was back on.’’

Essential Energy confirmed the delayed re-connection was because the pole had to be replaced.

Essential Energy regional general manager southern Steven Ilitch said the power interruption occurred at 1.24am and affected electricity supply to approximately 1690 premises.

‘‘Crews from Deniliquin Depot were quickly dispatched to make the site electrically safe, isolate supply and initiate power restoration,’’ he said.

‘‘As a result of the incident, local Essential Energy employees had to replace a complex power pole carrying high voltage network equipment before supply could safely be restored.

‘‘Power was restored to the majority of customers by approximately 2.43am. All customers had supply restored by 9.45am once repairs had been completed.

‘‘Essential Energy would like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused.’’

According to the police report, a 20 year-old Deniliquin man was driving a ute north on Crispe St, toward the Deniliquin RSL Club, when his vehicle crashed into the power pole.

His ute reportedly mounted the kerb about 1.10am and, following the collision, was spun around ‘‘about 180 degrees’’, smashing into a brick pillar of the Deniliquin RSL Club’s bowls green fence.

The alleged driver left the scene before emergency services arrived, but was later found at his home.

Police transported the man to hospital for treatment to minor injuries and for blood and urine tests. Inquiries are continuing.