A squirrel got an 11,000 volt shock and blacked out 600 homes when it took a short cut along a power cable.
The body of the unlucky animal was found by engineers after homes in the Hullbridge area lost electricity at 6.52am today.
His unfortunate journey damaged insulator cable near Lubbards Lodge Farm on the Hullbridge Road at Rayleigh.
Les Hart, duty shift manager for power company 24Seven, said: "The majority of homes were switched back on within an hour.
"Power to the rest was restored later in the morning."
Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article