Less than 50 without power

Media statement - for immediate release
4.00pm, Monday 23 Sept 2013 - next update 4.00pm tomorrow

Less than 50 without power

Fewer than 50 rural Orion customers remain without electricity tonight following the most destructive storm to hit Canterbury in 40 years. The windstorm originally took out power to 28,000 Orion customers.

"It has been a great effort from our staff, contractors and crews from outside our region, to get to today's position where we have less than 50 customers without power. The devastation this storm caused is probably not appreciated by most, but it resulted in substantial damage to our rural network," says Orion Chief Executive Rob Jamieson.

"To restore power to an individual customer is sometimes involving repairs that take ten, or more, highly trained people many hours to fix. I appreciate the on-going patience and tolerance of those still without power and I can assure them that we are doing everything we can to get them back onto the network as quickly and as safely as we can," continues Mr Jamieson.

We ask any residents using generators to get them installed by registered electricians to ensure the safety of the linesmen repairing the network.

If you see a fallen power line, or a tree on a power line, please stay well clear and call us on 0800 363 9898.

Our next update will be at 4.00pm tomorrow, Tuesday.

ENDS

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