The outages will affect more than 4600 customers in Uralla, Walcha, Yarrowitch, Nowendoc, Woolbrook, Kentucky, Arding River, Rocky River, Hillgrove, Wollomombi, Ebor and surrounding rural areas, and will take place between 10.30pm on Sunday, February 16 and 3.30am on Monday, February 17.

Affected homes and businesses have been notified. The project is dependent on suitable weather conditions and may be postponed if conditions are unfavourable or unforeseen circumstances arise.

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Operations Ranges manager, Paul McWilliam, said the works would ensure the network remained safe and reliable, and included the replacement of two sets of high voltage links directly outside the Uralla zone substation.

"The links act like a switch to allow power to flow from the zone substation out to the network. If they fail to work, customers will experience an unplanned outage," he said.

"The need to replace these links was identified through Essential Energy's thermal imaging program, which can help to identify faulty network equipment and allow repairs to be completed before it can cause an unplanned outage.

"While it's not always possible, we have been able to schedule this planned outage overnight to reduce the inconvenience for local homes and businesses."

Crews and equipment from Armidale, Guyra and Walcha will work together to ensure the works are completed as quickly as possible.

"Specialist zone substation crews will also utilise the outage to complete maintenance on the Oaky and Hillgrove zone substations," Mr McWilliam said.

"We appreciate that planned power outages can be inconvenient and thank those affected for their understanding as we work to ensure the electricity network remains safe and reliable."

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