Equipment failure at BREC’s substation

Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative customers served by their Newry substation have been restored with service after yesterday’s equipment failure. Blue Ridge’s Terry Ballenger blames what happened on a failed regulator, but says it’ll likely take sending that regulator back to the factory for a definitive answer. What happened yesterday afternoon at the substation off Carson Road caused an explosion in what is a remote area of the county. “I think some of the oil from the regulator caught on fire, but I don’t think it created any kind of need for the fire department. I think it burned itself out pretty quickly. Having that regulator go out like that did manage to take the old substation down,” Ballenger said.