Much of campus lost power for a little over an hour on Thursday beginning shortly after 4 pm. Power was out in all campus buildings south of Forbes Avenue. Classes were cancelled for the rest of the evening. Approximately 140 classes were affected.

The University receives power from two feeds, of which only one is necessary to power the campus. However, on Thursday one line was shut down while work was underway on the Mellon Institute's electrical system. According to Dan Coffelt, director of facilities operations at Carnegie Mellon, a power circuit failed on the operational line somewhere off campus, leaving most of campus in the dark.

According to John Laudenslager, a Duquesne Light spokesperson, the problem originated in Squirrel Hill when a cable failed and took out an entire circuit. Laudenslager said power was out for 42 minutes, and affected 500 customers in Squirrel Hill, Oakland, and on the Carnegie Mellon campus.

Power was restored around 5:30 pm when the second line – the one shut down for work – was brought back online after the work was finished.