The outages were widespread, severing power to most of east Deniliquin.
Up to 1700 customers were impacted during the course of the outages, forcing the temporary closure of some businesses, including the Denilqiuin RSL Club.
Some customers were without power for up to six hours.
An Essential Energy spokesperson said the second fault in the network was discovered more than an hour after the first.
“Electricity network protection equipment operated automatically after detecting a fault, switching power off to 1200 homes and businesses for safety, around 6.40am,” the company spokesperson said.
“Crews patrolled the power network and identified a bird had caused the outage.
“After ensuring it was safe to do so, power was restored for all customers within an hour.
“Shortly after, about 7.50am, crews were responding to a call of no power and found a high voltage powerline on the ground in Crispe Street.
“Power was switched off to more than 1700 customers immediately to ensure the safety of the public, property and our crews.
“It’s likely that the bird strike earlier contributed to a fault current on the network, which then caused this section of powerline to fail.”
The electricity network around the Crispe St fault was isolated and power was restored for most customers by 8.30am.
Crews then set about carrying out repairs to the powerline and completed a thorough safety inspection of the network in the vicinity.
“Some customers’ power came on and went off again as the network was switched around so that repairs could be completed,” Essential Energy said.
“Crews worked as quickly as safety allowed to complete repairs, and power was restored for all remaining customers around 11.45am.
“Essential Energy thanks customers for their patience and reminds the public to always remain at least eight metres away from fallen powerlines and anything in contact with them, and to report them immediately to Essential Energy on 13 20 80 or on 000 if the situation is life-threatening.”
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