Most of Phnom Penh was in the dark yesterday afternoon after Cambodia’s electricity supply from Vietnam, a key source of power, was interrupted.

Officials could not confirm precisely what the issue was but, in an email to customers yesterday, internet service provider Digi said there was a problem with the main line from Vietnam to Cambodia, which runs through Svay Rieng province.

But a senior official from Electricite Du Cambodge who asked not be named, said the problem was related to issues at a plant in Vietnam that had happened at about 2pm.

“Cambodia receives about 170 megawatts [from Vietnam], it is about 40 per cent of the total 400 megawatts of electricity [supplied] in Cambodia, so we are affected when there are electric power problems in Vietnam,” he said.

“Now they are restoring the electricity, and we also are restoring our power supply to the Special Economic Zones in Phnom Penh.”

In its email, Digi said the outage was “unprecedented” and had “caused wide electricity outage in city”. Frustrations have been high in Phnom Penh this hot season because of routine rolling blackouts.