One of Greece’s most alluring islands, Skiathos in the northwest Aegean, was blacked out the night of Aug. 18, a Friday that is one of the busiest – at the height of the tourist season – another in a series of outages as the country’s debt-plagued electric company is struggling.

Electricity was gradually restored by the morning Aug. 19, media reports said although parts of the island went dark most of the night after reports of an electricity network malfunction on the western part.

Greece’s power distribution agency (DEDDIE) responded immediately, dispatching units to restore electricity to the affected areas, starting with Skiathos Town, overrun with tourists at this time of the year.

Mayor Dimitris Prevezanos complained that the power loss was an economic loss and couldn’t have happened at a worse time, he told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.  “It is unacceptable for such problems to occur at the peak of the tourist season,” he said, questioning how businesses would recoup the losses they have suffered.

The power cut was confined to the area near the malfunction and didn’t affect the busy area around the most popular beach, Koukounaries. A portion of the equally popular Pelion region, on the mainland side, was also affected. The occupancy rate on Skiathos was near 100 percent this past week and heading into the weekend.