A three-hour electricity outage in major parts of Phnom Penh and Kandal province on Tuesday night was caused by a generator failure at the Chak Angre power plant in Meanchey district, Electricite du Cambodge said Wednesday.
Thirty percent of Phnom Penh and Kandal lost power between 6:30 pm and 9:30 pm, said Chea Sun Hel, director of EdC’s distribution department.
“It was a technical problems, like a person accidentally fainting or a plane crash accident,” he said. “The power system in our country is not excellent but it is usable…we are not careless and we try hard to fix it up.”
Chea Sun Hel said Chak Angre supplies 30 percent of EdC’s power.
During the outage, the water supply was also cut for three hours, said Chea Visoth, the assistant to Water Supply Authority Director General Ek Sun Chan.
“We have contracted 100 percent of our electricity needs to EdC,” he said. “We are not allowed to have our own generator.”
Deputy Municipal Governor Mam Bun Neang said that the outage, which he said was caused by a short-circuit, had not caused much disruption.
“We have not received any complaints from hotels or factories about the electricity,” he said.
Chy Sila, the general manager of the T&Coffee World chain said some customers walked out of the establishment when the power went out.
“We can’t make coffee for customers without electricity,” said Touch Chuun Leng, manager of Java Cafe on Sihanouk Boulevard.
“If the outage is longer than three hours, meats in the freezer will be spoiled,” he said.
