Ken Mitchell is Scanpower's network manager. Photo / Christine McKay
The wind is howling and your power goes off - who do you call?
Scanpower of course.
During the recent storm when wind interrupted power supply, it was the team at Scanpower that responded to the emergency.
There were 57 callouts over a 48-hour period and, thanks to a well-maintained network, all were predominantly low voltage incidents, including fuses, clashing of lines and trees over lines.
"Our priority was to get as many people back on the network as quickly as we could during the storm," Ken Mitchell, Scanpower's network manager, said.
Keeping the power connected to 6800 properties in the customer-owned Scanpower supply area and ensuring surety of supply and meeting financial benchmarks is key, Warren Harris, Scanpower's network operations controller, said.
And while the recent storm had customers calling in to report power outages, the Scanpower network is one of the most reliable electricity providers.
"We have a continual upgrade programme, with two line gangs contracted to the network and we're always refreshing overhead wires and poles," Mr Harris said. "Our network is in relatively good nick and we work hard to keep it that way."
After-hours calls go through a Hastings call centre while during the day they're taken directly by Scanpower. But during the last storm Mr Harris took the after hours-phone system back in-house at 6am to better control responses.
"Lines on the ground are the first priority because of the potential to harm someone, then priority is based on the needs of customers, but usually woolsheds and water pumps are a lower priority."
Mr Harris said during the recent storm conditions, there was close monitoring of the Smith and Umutaoroa Rds area.
"We had one crew just doing laps attending to outages and another pinch point was Jacksons Rd at Kumeroa.
"But it's not only important to look after the public - the safety of our staff is important too," he said.
"Watching out for staff fatigue during a big storm is vital and we have two faultmen who are on call 24/7. During the last storm staff began work at 5.30am and worked through the day. But once it gets dark it can become unsafe and it's more dangerous.
"We have a list of people who are medically dependent on electricity and we're very fortunate our town supply is robust; although during the storm we did set up a generator for an elderly emphysema customer."
Providing a network which meets the demands of the community means there has to be some crystal-ball gazing, Mr Harris said.
"We've got to engineer and consider what demand will be in 50 years time, but all customers are worried about is. If they flick the light switch, 'will the light come on and does the pump go to fill up my water trough?"'
However, customers can do their bit for the network by making sure trees are kept clear of the lines.
"Trees near lines are a safety danger and can create faults, so we ask people to keep their trees pruned and not to plant near lines.
"We're always striving to find ways to create an even better supply system and we're about to assess new resin-based, plastic connectors. We're continuing to work to move from wooden poles to concrete and aim to build all the bits which hang off the pole in galvanised steel, so this network can last another 50 years."
Mr Mitchell works on planning, design and management of the network.
"New Zealand is a world leader in formal asset management, analysing how things perform and where our target is to have the highest-performing set of assets for the job," he said. "Our core objective is safe, reliable supply at a cost which keeps our local economy competitive. By definition we are a monopoly, so there's a lot of scrutiny to ensure we're doing things effectively and not gold-plating things. Our network has to compete on performance.
"It's a very rigorous process. This company spends an extraordinary amount of time - the equivalent of three fulltime staff - ensuring the regulatory questions are answered."
With Scanpower owned by the community, Mr Mills said the company also has to justify what it was spending.
"We like to believe we're demonstrating that bigger isn't alway better," he said.
"We have a small team who have a broad level of experience and are effective with a hands-on way of dealing with local issues."
And in the event of a disaster, Scanpower has a plan which Mr Mitchell said is resilient enough to provide essential services.