Power outage affects 12,000 in downtown Raleigh

Crews working on an electrical substation in downtown Raleigh on Monday tripped a safety mechanism, causing a power outage for 12,400 customers.

Jeff Brooks of Progress Energy said the workers were updating equipment in the substation when the safety mechanism activated. That substation and a second one in the area were both de-energized, he said.

The customers affected are mainly downtown, with some in the southeastern part of the city.

Crews were working on the outage shortly before 12:30 p.m., but Brooks said it was unclear how soon electricity would be restored.