ESSENTIAL Energy has denied maintenance cuts caused a fire on top of a power pole in Murwillumbah last month.

More than 600 homes were left without electricity for nearly three hours after a power pole caught on fire in Queen St on June 13.

NSW Electrical Trades Union Assistant secretary Justin Page said job cuts by electricity distributor Essential Energy meant power poles were receiving less maintenance and outages were lasting longer.

"Safety has been comprised, the poles aren't being maintained and these sort of incidents are happening more and more,” he said.

Mr Page said blackouts in regional areas lasted three times longer than major cities and were becoming longer due to Essential Energy cutting the jobs of field workers.

He said in 2014, Essential Energy customers had to wait an average of 183 minutes per outage, while in 2015 it was 217 minutes and 227 minutes in 2016.

"As they've slowly reduced 1500 workers over the year, customers are now experiencing longer outage periods,” he said.

According to the ETU, Essential Energy has sacked 1,700 employees representing almost 40 per cent of its workforce over the past seven years.

But an Essential Energy spokesperson told the Tweed Daily News the fire in Murwillumbah had nothing to do with maintenance cuts.

"Wildlife contact is believed to have caused an electrical fault on a power pole in Queen St, Murwillumbah at approximately 4.30pm on June 13, 2018,” they said.

"Network protection equipment operated automatically to isolate the power supply to the area resulting in an unplanned outage for 643 customers in Murwillumbah.

"Essential Energy crews responded immediately by securing the safety of the site to allow the necessary repairs to be undertaken. Power was progressively restored to all customers by 7.30pm.” The spokesperson encouraged the public to report any network damage to Essential Energy.