Nova Scotians are tired of the power going out and Nova Scotia Power's explanations for the latest outage -- salty fog -- has become the butt of a lot of jokes.

Power workers said that a salt buildup on equipment from a recent storm, accompanied by moist air, was to blame.

"Last weekend's windstorm and sea spray deposited a lot of salt on our equipment," Dan Muldoon, general manager of customer operations, said in a news release from Nova Scotia Power.

"The salty Halifax fog -- that was one of the best excuses I've ever heard," said one Halifax resident. "I don't buy it. Salty fog. It doesn't make sense to me," added another.

However, the excuse was pure gold for newspaper cartoonists and other wags.

What Nova Scotians wanted to know was: in a province synonymous with fog and salt air, how could "salty fog" knock out the power?

"It's kind of laughable ... kind of annoying too," said a third resident. "Suddenly you're sitting in the dark. And there's nothing to do. And you wonder what's going on."

Margaret Murphy of Nova Scotia Power insists that's what happened. "And we went. 'Oh yeah, you can see it -- salt contamination in the insulators."

Two years ago, a modest November snowfall toppled towers, leaving some residents in the dark for nearly a week. Since then, everything from birds to streamers at the Gay Pride parade have been blamed for blackouts.

"I've heard so many excuses now that I really don't know what to think," said Darrell Dexter, leader of the provincial NDP.

Some have suggested that ever since the power company was privatized 14 years ago. service just hasn't been the same.

Citizens wonder if the company is using cheaper equipment. Nova Scotia Power insists its equipment is fine. This latest problem is just a rare problem not seen in Halifax for decades, it said.

With a report by CTV's John Vennavally-Rao