Crews work to restore power in challenging conditions - 8pm update
Field crews are continuing to work as quickly and safely as possible to reconnect thousands of customers who are without power as a result of today’s turbulent weather.
Strong winds have blown vegetation and objects such as trampolines into lines causing outages. Currently, there are approximately 22,000 customers without power across Powerco’s network.
Bay of Plenty and Taranaki have been hit the hardest, however the impact of Cyclone Dovi has caused widespread damage and outages for Powerco’s customers across the North Island.
Network Operations Manager Scott Horniblow says extra crews were called in this morning and have worked hard throughout the day to restore customers when it has been safe to do so.
“Our crews have done a fantastic job in extremely challenging conditions, and we’d like to thank our customers for their patience as they worked to get power back on as quickly as possible.
“When gusts are too strong for crews to climb ladders to make repairs to equipment at the top of poles, we have to wait for the wind to subside before continuing work.
“For safety reasons, we’ll be standing crews down for the evening at 10pm, except for those who will be on hand to respond to any emergencies during the night. The rest of our crews will start work again in the morning,” he says.
In the event of an emergency such as power lines coming down, Powerco urges people to stay well clear of lines as they may be live and call its 24/7 emergency line on 0800 27 27 27.
Current outage information including estimated restoration times can be found on Powerco’s website at www.powerco.co.nz/outages.
Strong winds have blown vegetation and objects such as trampolines into lines causing outages. Currently, there are approximately 22,000 customers without power across Powerco’s network.
Bay of Plenty and Taranaki have been hit the hardest, however the impact of Cyclone Dovi has caused widespread damage and outages for Powerco’s customers across the North Island.
Network Operations Manager Scott Horniblow says extra crews were called in this morning and have worked hard throughout the day to restore customers when it has been safe to do so.
“Our crews have done a fantastic job in extremely challenging conditions, and we’d like to thank our customers for their patience as they worked to get power back on as quickly as possible.
“When gusts are too strong for crews to climb ladders to make repairs to equipment at the top of poles, we have to wait for the wind to subside before continuing work.
“For safety reasons, we’ll be standing crews down for the evening at 10pm, except for those who will be on hand to respond to any emergencies during the night. The rest of our crews will start work again in the morning,” he says.
In the event of an emergency such as power lines coming down, Powerco urges people to stay well clear of lines as they may be live and call its 24/7 emergency line on 0800 27 27 27.
Current outage information including estimated restoration times can be found on Powerco’s website at www.powerco.co.nz/outages.