Power back on for Mount Maunganui businesses and homes

Rosie O'Gradys Irish Pub owner Noorjce Collins inside her empty tavern. Photo / Sandra Conchie

A major power outage in Mount Maunganui on Tuesday saw businesses affected and more than 4000 customers without power.

The outage began at 9.44am with about 4500 customers initially without power. By 10.20am power had been restored to a large majority, however, 834 customers were still affected.

Power was restored to all areas by about 3pm.

Rosie O'Grady's Irish Pub owner Noorcje Collins said the pub on Rata St was closed during the outage.

She said she had gone for a drive and said the whole block was quiet and most cafes and restaurants were shut.

Collins said without power the pub gaming machines would not work, the beer would be warm and they were unable to cook food.

"This is losing us a lot of money not being open," she said.

Collins said the power turned back on just before 3pm but a computer, the gambling machines and the music were not working.

She said she hoped it would be sorted out soon and thought the electrical system may have gone into shock.

"We'll get there in the end," she said.

Mount Social Club owner Lucas Fleury said the power outage meant they were unable to serve coffee and a lot of the food from their menu.

"The chef is now just going through everything because there is some food we have prepared that we are not going to be keeping. We hate to waste but it's too risky when the temperature goes up.

"We also had people turn up to do some work on their computers but there was no WiFi."

Fleury said it was a bit disappointing to lose the custom but there was nothing that could be done.

The cause of the outage was currently unknown and Powerco was unable to be contacted for comment.