Engineers have launched an investigation to establish the cause of power cuts that have affected Moray communities for several weeks.
Intermittent outages lasting less than a minute have been reported in Elgin, Lhanbryde, Longmore, Birnie and Barmuckity by several residents.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has confirmed the cuts are being caused by automated equipment that turns off affected sections when damage is detected, with power then restored if there is not a sustained fault.
Engineers from SSEN are currently checking overhead lines between Lhanbryde and Elgin to investigate the cause.
A number of potential culprits have already been identified, with the steps being taken including removing nesting gulls near SSEN’s Ashgrove substation in Elgin, replacing overhead equipment damaged by recent lighting strikes and installing fence protection to prevent livestock rubbing against wooden electricity poles.
Moray MSP Richard Lochhead said: “I am aware that regular power cuts in the Elgin area have been a source of frustration for many over the last few weeks.”
A SSEN spokesman said: “Teams from the Elgin depot have installed fault path indicators along the route to assist in narrowing down the location of the fault.
“Engineers have also re-routed the network from Ashgrove substation to minimise further disruption to customers as investigations continue.
“SSEN would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused and reassure customers local teams are doing everything they can to restore the network to normal operation as quickly as possible.”
A large amount of homes and businesses were also affected in Banff having no electricity this afternoon.
Premises in the High Street, Kingswell Lane, Sandy Hill and Colleonard roads and Low Street areas of town lost power around 2.40pm. It is not expected to be restored for at least another hour.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks say six AB45 postcode areas are affected by the failure and that engineers are on route. Electricity is expected to be restored by 5.30pm.