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People who have had power restored since last week’s cyclone could face more electricity outages over the next six months as permanent fixes are put in place, lines companies are warning.
Electricity has been restored to all but thousands of the tens of thousands of homes that lost power when the cyclone struck on February 14.
But Electricity Network Association (ENA) chief executive Graeme Peters said that what might not be widely known was that lines companies had deployed “a range of temporary measures – ‘patches’ if you will” to get power back as quickly as possible.
Such measures, which included powering their networks using diesel generators were, “not viable long term”, he said.
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Customers could experience further disruption over the next three to six months as networks were permanently repaired, though that would involve “planned outages”, he said, which would suggest they could expect advanced notice.
Napier lines company Unison last week described some of the fixes it has put in place to restore power to large areas of Hawke’s Bay as “very fragile”.
Kiri Allan/Supplied
Forestry slash took out Hikuwai Bridge, north of Tolaga Bay, after Cyclone Gabrielle.
“We have still got a network that is damaged, so we have got to set expectations that we could still have some issues,” spokesperson Danny Gough said then.
Peters said the ENA welcomed a ministerial inquiry announced by the Government on Tuesday into the issue of “forestry slash”.
Fallen trees and other forestry waste is believed to have contributed significantly to damage to bridges after being washed down from land blocks during the floods.
“Slash is an issue for our members as it has taken bridges out and caused massive issues regarding access,” Peters said.
“The speed with which [lines companies] can restore power supply to households and businesses is directly compromised by this problem.”
Peters said he was not aware whether additional damage was likely to result from slash that had been displaced by the floods but that had not yet washed all the way down to roads and bridges.
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