ELECTRICITY became too mainstream for Melbourne hipsters last night.

More than 31,000 homes and businesses in the inner-northern suburbs of Northcote, Thornbury and Brunswick lost power from 6.45pm.

Fortunately, hipsters could still access Twitter on their smartphones, where they shared tales of the horrors of #hipstergeddon.

The hashtag quickly trended as CitiPower worked to restore power in affected areas.

Declan Fay tweeted that Brunswick hipsters had to "huddle for warmth around a single iPad. There is only 3% battery left".

Johan suggested that bearded men were under threat in Northcote.

"Wild herds of cats are roaming down High St Northcote, dragging bearded men to the ground and devouring them."

He added that Melbourne Bitter stubbies had become "accepted currency in Thornbury’s new barter economy".

A CitiPower spokesperson said a cable problem problem was to blame for the power outage but that it was still being investigated.

“An underground cable fault was responsible for the outage. It caused a flow on effect to zone substations,” he said.

Resident Justin Hamilton’s power stayed on, attracting residents who were presumably desperate to recharge their iPhones.

"I’m warding off hipsters with nuts and grains as they congregate around my house, drawn to the light of working electricity," he tweeted.

But there was some relief for Melbourne’s hipsters as the night wore on.

A Twitter user known only as "Lol" said "free replacement beanies are handed out at a secret pop-up laneway location".

And Shane Sullivan joked that folk rockers Mumford & Sons had announced a "benefit concert" for #hipstergeddon survivors.

It was left to Gordon Knight to out-hipster the hipsters.

"Of course, I was doing #hipstergeddon jokes in the late 90s before they went mainstream," he tweeted.

CitiPower spokeswoman Lyndall King said equipment failures at two major substations caused the mass blackout.

"We’re still unaware of what caused it, that’s why we’re working to find out what happened," Ms King said.

Power has been restored this morning, just in time for hipsters to turn on their electric kettles for breakfast.

3AW reports this morning that residents, including a young woman dressed in pink tracksuit pants, were seen guiding cars through boom gates that were stuck down across the train line at Union St.

A police spokeswoman said it was illegal and frustrated drivers should have turned around and found an alternative route.

- with Chris Gillett