Power has been restored to the estimated 9,500 Saint John Energy customers affected by a large outage late Tuesday afternoon

The outage in the uptown, south and north ends lasted about 80 minutes, ending around 6 p.m.

It slowed the commute home for many motorists, with traffic lights also knocked out.

The utility said the outage was caused by a loss of electricity supply.

Saint john Energy said issues at NB Power have caused problems at three of Saint John Energy's substations, resulting in 9,500 customers being without power. (Roger Cosman/CBC) Saint John Energy stated in a tweet that NB Power supplies it with electricity and NB Power is experiencing issues that have caused problems at three of Saint John Energy's substations.

The outage hit at around 4:40 p.m., forcing the temporary closure of several businesses and organizations, including Brunswick Square and the YMCA of Greater Saint John.

But Mike Rogers, a barber at Brick City Barbers on Germain Street, didn't let the outage slow him down. He took his client outside and continued cutting on the sidewalk.

The Saint John Fire Department responded to a call to the Admiral Beatty Complex, where an elderly man was trapped in an elevator when the power went out.

"Together with the building maintenance personnel we were able to get the generator fired up and he was able to exit the elevator on his own accord," said Platoon Chief Steve Vautour.