Work continuing into evening to reconnect power

Powerco field crews have been out in force today working to restore power to Tararua and Wairarapa customers following gale force winds overnight on Sunday.

As of 5.30pm today, 787 customers were without power, 485 of those were in Manawatū/Tararua and 139 in Wairarapa.

Crews made good progress today restoring power supply, initially focusing on reconnecting high voltage lines that restored large groups of customers, followed by low voltage lines which reconnected smaller groups.

Gale force winds resulted in 2,900 without power overnight on Sunday.

Most outages have been caused by trees bringing down lines, Head of Network Operations, Caz Haydon, says.

“We understand how frustrating it is to be without power, particularly for an extended period of time, so I’d like to personally thank our customers who are without power for their patience and understanding while we work to fix the damage and reconnect you.”

While the winds did start to ease late today and crews will continue to work into the evening, some customers will remain without power overnight, mostly in the Tararua area. Powerco’s customer team is endeavouring to contact as many of the affected customers as possible.

“One of our biggest challenges in that area is getting access to assess the damage. The wind speed was still high today, which limited the use of helicopters and drones to pinpoint fault sites and enable repair teams and equipment in to repair the damage,” Caz Haydon says.

“Additional field crews are arriving from Taranaki to help out, and teams will work to restore all outstanding customers’ supply as quickly and safely as possible.”

Advice for customers

• Up-to-date information on current outages is available on Powerco’s website here.
• In the event that a customer can’t see the outage affecting them, they’re advised to log their outage on the website, or phone the company they pay their power bill to.
• Customers are also advised to treat all downed lines as live, to stay well clear and to phone Powerco’s emergency number 0800 27 27 27.