US power company FirstEnergy on Monday refused to take the blame for a blackout that cut electricity to 50 million people in the US and Canada.
Three transmission lines run by the Akron, Ohio-based company have emerged as an early focus of the inquiry and shares in the company plunged US$2.86, or 9.34 percent, to close at US$27.75 on Monday.
FirstEnergy said unusual electrical fluctuations had been detected in other parts of the grid many hours before it experienced problems, and it stressed the need for further data.
"Contrary to misinterpretations that identified FirstEnergy as the cause of the widespread outage, it is clear that extensive data needs to be gathered and analyzed in order to determine with any degree of certainty the circumstances that led to the outage," FirstEnergy said in a statement.
"What happened on Thursday afternoon is a very complex situation, far broader than the power line outages we experienced on our system," it said.
On Saturday, FirstEnergy admitted that three of its transmission lines and one that it owns jointly with American Electric Power had been tripped out of service.
It also said the alarm screen function of the computerized system for monitoring the transmission and generation system was not operating.
But FirstEnergy, the country's fourth-largest electrical utility, said Monday that problems had been detected in the broad region several hours before the 4:11pm power cut.
"From the preliminary data we are gathering -- and based on what others are providing -- it is clear that the transmission grid in the Eastern Interconnection, not just within our system, was experiencing unusual electrical conditions at various times prior to the event," it said.
"These included unusual voltage and frequency fluctuations and load swings on the grid. Contrary to speculation, these unexplained conditions were detected as early as noon on Thursday in the broad region, not just within our system," it said.
FirstEnergy noted that the North American Electric Reliability Council had cautioned against early speculation about the cause of the blackout.
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