Powerco: Whangamata update – 9.30am

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Whangamata update – 9.30am

Power supply to approximately 500 consumers in the Whangamata area was interrupted yesterday following unexpected faults while upgrading work was taking place.

Work began on the upgrade at 8am yesterday morning with large portable generators being used to supply electricity while the line was shut down.

However, shortly after work began a number of unexpected faults occurred, causing around 500 customers to lose power supply for a large part of the day.

Areas affected by the fault included Moana Point, Onemana Drive, Opoutere Road, Bambury Place, Russel Bruce Place, Tirohunga Place and Ohui Road.

There were also two short outages for all customers supplied via the Whangamata substation when a generator tripped.

As a result of these faults Powerco decided to stop work on the planned upgrade so that the field crews could localise and repair the faults.

Powerco Network Co-ordination Manager Phil Marsh said the cable faults occurred shortly after the refurbishment work began and was followed by one of the back up generators tripping. Bad weather in the area also caused difficulty for the field crews working on the faults.

As a result of these faults there are around 60 customers in the Onemana area who were without power overnight as crews could not get to the remote location where they live.

This morning field crews started work to repair this fault and expect to have all supply returned to all customers within the next hour.

“Powerco appreciates the patience shown by consumers in the area while these unexpected faults are repaired and will continue work to return power as soon as possible,” Mr Marsh said.

Further work on the refurbishment of the 33kV line that links Whangamata to the national electricity network was planned for tomorrow (Friday) but will now be delayed by the continuing bad weather in the area.

Powerco is New Zealand’s second largest electricity and second largest gas distribution utility with around 400,000 consumers connected to its networks. Powerco’s electricity networks are in Tauranga, Thames, Coromandel, Eastern and Southern Waikato, Taranaki, Wanganui, Rangitikei, Manawatu and the Wairarapa. Its gas pipeline networks are in Taranaki, Hutt Valley, Porirua, Wellington, Horowhenua, Manawatu and the Hawke’s Bay.

ENDS

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