by JEN BIUNDO

As the mercury hovered around 97 degrees, nearly 8,000 Pedernales Electric customers lost power Saturday afternoon for as many as three and a quarter hours.

Pedernales spokesperson Anne Harvey said the outage occurred when a control device in the Buda substation malfunctioned, shutting down power to about 3,650 co-op members on two main lines.

Workers quickly were able to restore power to about 350 homes through an alternate line. But when they attempted to switch the remaining 3,300 members to power from the Kyle substation, the system overloaded, and the lights went dark for an additional 4,400 members, Harvey said.

Within about half an hour, PEC workers had disconnected the Buda residents from the Kyle substation and restored power to the Kyle members. They then transferred about half the Buda members back to the Kyle station, then restored power to the remaining members by connecting a portable substation to the Buda facility.

The brownout lasted from about 30 minutes to three hours and 13 minutes, depending on the location.  Residents in the Mountain City area reported flickering lights throughout the night.

The control device that malfunctioned has reached the end of its useful life and will be replaced, Harvey said.

The outage occurred during dinner time, sending many co-op members, such as Mountain City residents Karen and Jim Herrmann, fleeing to air-conditioned restaurants to eat.

Herrmann said she and her husband took the outage in good spirits.

“We told neighbors, if it gets too hot we can always go in the pool,” Hermann said.

The Buda Fire Department did not report any calls from residents suffering from heat stroke or failure of medical devices during the outage.