Power was restored to hundreds of homes yesterday after two electricity poles caught fire, plunging two towns into darkness.
Firefighters were called to the blazes in Ellon and Dyce on Tuesday, after they broke out within half an hour of each other.
Engineers worked through the night to restore the power, and yesterday said it was likely the bad weather last week caused the fires.
Morven Smith, spokeswoman for Scottish and Southern Energy Power Distribution, said the cause of the fires was water seeping in through a “hairline crack” in the electricity poles.
She said: “It will be weather-related, what we find if there’s been damage to some of our equipment it can take its time to show itself.
“Such things as lightening can cause damage at the top of the poles and over time it can cause a hairline crack. Over time it lets water in, and eventually it shorts itself, and what happened was that very thing. Water has got in and caused a small break.
“It is certainly a kind of handover from the weather we have experienced over the past week. We have experienced four or five exceptional weather events in the space of a week.”
She added SSE was still on a “high risk” alert due to winds as high as 85mph being forecast for parts of Scotland today.
A total of 578 homes were left without power after the fires broke out.
Crews were called to the fire electricity pole fire in Dyce off the A96 Aberdeen to Inverness road, near Marshall Trailers, at about 9.15pm.
Two crews from Ellon were then called to tackle the fire on a pole near the town’s Tesco petrol station on Castle Road at about 9.40pm.
Fire and rescue station manager Mike Cordiner said: “I don’t believe the petrol station was in any danger. Two fire appliances from Ellon were mobilised to the incident for safety reasons.
“The hydro board were called to attend to isolate the fire before it could be tackled.
“We used two dry powder extinguishers to isolate the power there. They did use a hose reel jet as well to dampen down. The police were asked to attend to close the carriageway for traffic.”
Power was restored by Scottish and Southern Energy in Ellon by 6.45am yesterday and 3am in Dyce.
The damage to both poles was so severe they will have to be replaced.