Damaged equipment cause for Welcome Bay power outage

Welcome Bay properties will remain without power until later today after damaged power lines caused an outage to more than 1500 households.

According to the Powerco website, there were 71 properties without power with an estimated reconnection time of 4pm - nearly 20 hours after the initial outage.

Damaged equipment has been found to be the cause.

A Fire and Emergency spokeswoman said crews were called to power lines down on Stephens Pl in Hairini last night.

The spokesman said they were also called to reports of a power pole on fire in Welcome Bay.

There were 71 properties without power this morning following the outage last night which affected 1576 properties across Welcome Bay and Maungatapu.

The Power Co website said power was turned off at 4.21am and estimated it would be turned back on at 9.21am. The cause was not then listed.