The Athens area experienced a widespread power outage Friday, leaving more than 18,000 customers of American Electric Power (AEP) without electricity.
The cause of the outage was unclear for hours as AEP Ohio, the regionâs primary electric provider, worked to determine what went wrong after several power stations in the Athens and Albany areas went out at 2 p.m.
It was later discovered that a high-voltage wooden power pole that feeds nearby stations was damaged after a tree fell on it, said Deanna Gilliland, communications consultant for AEP Ohio.
She said the damaged pole was in a âremoteâ location off State Route 13 near Chauncey where crews determined that it would have to be replaced.