Essential Energy crews were kept busy during the night and into Tuesday after storms rolled through the Bingara, Delungra, Inverell and Warialda areas.

Regional manager northern, Ben Williams, said the storms first impacted the network at 1.09pm.

“The lightning strike caused protection equipment in the zone substation to activate and become damaged,” Ben said.

The Inverell zone substation supplies power to Ashford, Bingara, Delungra, Inverell, Kings Plains, Texas, Tingha, Warialda, Wallangra and surrounding areas.

“Our crews worked as quickly and safely as possible and by 6pm the number of households and businesses affected had been progressively reduced to 1398,” Ben said.

To restore power as quickly as possible, Essential Energy crews have temporarily bypassed the damaged equipment in the Inverell zone substation until permanent repairs can be made.

“In addition to the lightning strike at the Inverell zone substation, the storm also caused a number of powerlines to come down and a large number of other problems including blown network fuses,” Ben said.

By 11pm, Essential crews had reduced the number of households and businesses affected to 556 and by 6am Tuesday morning the number had been reduced to 35.

“I thank customers for their understanding as we worked as quickly as possible to repair the damage caused by the storm and restore power,” Ben said.

Essential Energy hoped to have power restored to all customers by close of business Tuesday.