PowerNet says new fuses should help prevent another Hanley's Farm outage

Crux has received multiple complaints from Hanley's Farm residents following two unscheduled power cuts in freezing weather conditions over the last weekend – June 6/7. 

The subdivision is serviced by PowerNet, an Invercargill based supplier. In a response to Crux questions today the Acting Chief Executive David Stevens blamed increased winter loads on the network but said that new fuses that have since been fitted to local transformers will increase the Hanley’s Farm load capacity and prevent further outages in the area.

Mr Stevens did not elaborate on why the correct fuses had not been fitted prior to this weekend but did add: “We know how important a reliable power supply is for households and sincerely apologise for the inconvenience these recent outages have caused.”

Many residents have complained not just of the outages themselves but the lack of communication.

One resident, Emma Kent, told Crux:

“We went straight onto the internet to find out what happened. No notices of outages were shown on Aurora or PowerNet's website. 

“We sat there, for some time, wondering when it would be back. My flatmate called PowerNet but waited 45 mins to be told they don't know what happened and don't know when it will be back on... That was it. Nothing else. 

“Over the course of the next few hours, the power came back on and off again.

“Many comments on the community page mentioned that PowerNet had told them it was due to the power grid being overloaded.

“The power came back on around 11.30pm. almost 6 hours later, in the winter. I can only imagine what families with babies and young children had to do that night to keep them fed, safe and warm.

“We had to throw away all of our frozen and refrigerated food due to the amount of time it went without power. Neither myself nor my flatmate have the money lying around to replace $100s worth of groceries lost.  My flatmate has a disability and relies on her medical alarm.

“I have emailed Dave Wallace, manager of development and planning at the QLDC this morning for answers. I await to hear his reply.” 

Another resident, Sammi Dennis, told Crux today that the PowerNet cuts put their Hanley’s Farm household into a very stressful situation. She suffers from an auto-immune disease and her flatmate has recently had pneumonia.

Like Emma Kent, she said the lack of information was as distressing as the power cut and freezing temperatures.

Crux has asked PowerNet for more details re the new transformer fuses and why they had not been fitted previously. We received a media release from them on May 31^st making it clear that they expected “extended power outages” over that (previous) weekend.

That May 31 statement from Mr Stevens said:

“In anticipation of the forecast weather, PowerNet put on extra field staff and contractors over the weekend. Our teams have been working hard to restore power to affected customers today, in challenging conditions. Safe restoration of supply is our priority right now, but there have been a lot of weather-related faults to manage. Our teams have been prioritising feeder faults first so we can get the largest number of customers back on.”

“Crews will wrap up work at nightfall, as it becomes more difficult - and less safe - to carry out repairs in the dark. It's also important we manage fatigue and support the wellbeing of our teams. Our PowerNet staff and contractors have done an outstanding job today, and we’ve had a number of messages from the community acknowledging their efforts, which is great to see.”