NStar

The city reports about 500 customers are without power in Jamaica Plain today but that NStar is looking to restore their service by 3 p.m.

One Green Street resident reports the power went out around 5:45 a.m.

Boston Police report scamsters are calling Bostonians, demanding money right away to to replace meters that could burst into flames or something or to make up allegedly delinquent accounts.

Police say if somebody purporting to be from National Grid demands you buy a pre-paid card to keep your electricity on, don't do it. The company would replace any defective meters for free. Also:

National Grid does contact customers with past due balances by phone to offer payment options, but never demands direct payment over the telephone.

Ed. note: Plus, there's the fact that National Grid doesn't offer electric services in Boston ...

As of midnight, some 345,000 households and businesses across the state were without power, the state reports. That includes the entire city of Quincy.

• NStar outage map

A manhole fire right at Brighton and Harvard avenues has caused power outages in the area. The city is also urging motorists to avoid the area, unless they like sitting in gridlock.

SATURDAY MORNING UPDATE: Fire must've done some major damage. A resident of the area around Wood Avenue in Hyde Park reports NStar told her power wouldn't be restored until 2 p.m.

A manhole on Cummins Highway near the Stop & Shop entrance burst into flames around 10:15 p.m., taking down with it power along Hyde Park Avenue between roughly Cummins Highway and American Legion Highway.

The Tech reports last week's Cambridge power outage blew out so many wireless access points across campus that the school has had to order replacement units:

Until then, IS&T recommends connecting to the MIT network via Ethernet connections whenever possible. Students may visit the IS&T office in E17-110 to pick up an Ethernet cable.

The MIT Tech provides the most detailed explanation you'll ever read of last week's Cambridge blackout, including an answer to the question:

Why didn't MIT's 20 megawatt cogeneration turbine power the campus like a lighthouse in a sea of Cantabrigian darkness?

Can you spot the Cambridge/Boston line on the North Point bridge? Photo by Matthew Woolf.

UPDATE: Power began coming back on around 6:20 p.m.

Reports pouring in of power outages from across the city: Kendall, Central and Harvard squares all without lights. Cambridgeport is dark. The Cambridgeside Galleria and the Museum of Science? Powerless. Even the Harvard Business School across the river might be out.

Some people got stuck in an elevator at Harvard. A family with a baby got stuck in an elevator at the River Street Whole Foods.

Cambridge Police report:

At 6 a.m., MEMA reported 306,000 customers across the state without power. NStar was reporting about 78,000 powerless customers, including about 1,700 in Boston - down from nearly 150,000 Monday evening.

NStar reports 146,628 customers without power, including 6,780 in Boston.

NStar reports 68,417 customers without service, 5,563 in Boston.

NStar now reports 39,055 customers without power, including 4,882 in Boston, where trees are coming down and transformers exploding across the city. We've heard of outages in Ashmont, Roslindale, West Roxbury and East Boston so far.

NStar reports 23,047 customers without power - including 378 in Boston and 1,046 in Cambridge.

NStar reports 4,852 customers without power - 175 in Boston and 460 in Cambridge.

A power line came down on Powell Street in West Roxbury, off Spring, around 10 p.m., knocking out power in the area of Spring and Baker, as far south as the Deutsches Altenheim.

The NStar outage map is beginning to light up, although all of the outages so far are small (exactly one customer in Newton).

Bob Houser's frustration has only grown since this meeting in 2010.

WBZ reports squabbling among a contractor, NStar and state officials means the homeowners are still paying their mortgage on what is now a vacant lot where their house used to stand until an explosion caused when a BWSC contractor's backhoe punctured a gas main during street repairs.

The contractor blames DigSafe, DigSafe and NStar blame the contractor, the state is holding hearings and meanwhile:

Houser and his partner are now renting, as well as paying the mortgage for the Hyde Park properly, while they wait. Until it's legally resolved and someone is found responsible, the homeowner is responsible.

Along Harvard Avenue. Again.

Not a good night for the AC to go off.

The Boston Fire Department reports fire flared up a manhole behind 359 Huntington Ave. this morning when some "penetrating spray" being used by a worker to loosen a bolt on an underground transformer hit a "small torch" and flashed over.

The transformer itself had already been shut down for repairs, the department says. The fire went out by itself and there were no injuries, the department says.

AlertNewEngland reports utility poles caught on fire on Grove Street and over the line in Dedham last night and parts of West Roxbury went dark. As of 5 this morning, about 1,000 customers in West Roxbury and Chestnut Hill were still without power, WBZ tweeted.

The city reports Allston blinked out this afternoon, at least in the areas around Brighton Avenue and Allston street. However, the traffic lights, at least, were also out at Brighton and Harvard avenues.

UPDATE: Around 6, Dorchester in the vicinity of Dot. Ave. and Freeport Street went out.

Candles, anyone? Misha Wolfson reports the power line runs right through Davis Square:

Elm St. side is dark, College Ave. side is normal.

Updated.

A basement transformer fire forced the evacuation of the Moakley Courthouse this afternoon but caused no injuries.

The fire, reported around 4:15 p.m., went to a second alarm when the Boston Fire Department called in extra crews to evacuate courthouse workers.

Firefighters were unable to enter the transformer room for nearly an hour as they waited for NStar workers to arrive and shut off the power.

At a hearing next week, Boston councilors will demand answers from NStar on two recent transformer problems in the Back Bay, one of which left much of the neighborhood without power for several days.

Council President Steve Murphy says he wants more than just soothing words from the utility - he wants somebody independent of the company to start monitoring the way it delivers power in Boston.

Channel 4 reports the mayor's not happy with the latest blackout in the Back Bay and nearby areas.