On Saturday night homes and businesses across the region saw the light and plunged into darkness.

But while national icons including Melbourne’s Flinders Street Station, Sydney’s Opera House, and the WACA switched their lights off between 8pm and 9pm plans for Wodonga water tower didn’t go so smoothly.

The city landmark and fairy lights in nearby Woodland Grove remained very much alight.

A spokeswoman for Wodonga council admitted they were an hour late for Earth Hour.

“We had trouble finding the key for the water tower so we switched the lights off from 9pm,” she said.

Wodonga Council was one of the lead agencies in a bid to have more than 50,000 homes in the North East switch off their lights.

Therese Shanley at Beechworth’s Green Shed Bistro was one of four restaurateurs in the tourist town to switch to candle power for the hour.

“When we turned the lights back on our patrons booed so we switched them off again,” she said.

“I guess we had the lights off for about two hours.

“All our diners were happy to participate, they said it was like going back in time.

“We were fully booked, some people had purposely decided to dine with us because we were part of Earth Hour.”

Wodonga councillor and part owner of The Daily Scoop Jenny Hanuska said there was a sense of being part of something much bigger.

They provided candles and switched the lights off at the ice creamery.

“There were quite a few people out and about,” Mrs Hanuska said.

“I was telling people that we were deliberately in the dark and they were very much aware of what was happening and willing to participate.”

Yesterd ay energy suppliers were unable to quantify the power savings in the North East but estimated the demand was down about 10 per cent in Melbourne.