Electricity Authority lodges formal complaint against Transpower over Northland transmission tower collapse

The pylon fell on June 20 last year, with a report finding contractors unbolted three of its four legs at once during routine maintenance.

By RNZ

The agency in charge of regulating New Zealand’s electricity industry has laid a formal complaint over last year’s toppling of a pylon that cut power to the entire Northland region.

If upheld, the Electricity Authority’s complaint against Transpower could result in a penalty of up to $2 million.

According to an earlier report, the pylon at Glorit, just north of Auckland, fell over on June 20, 2024, after inadequately trained and supervised contractors unbolted three of the tower’s four legs at once.

The ensuing outage left 88,000 homes and businesses across Northland without power for up to three days.

The Electricity Authority announced on Thursday that it was lodging a formal complaint against Transpower, alleging the national grid operator “failed to adhere to good electricity industry practice” when maintaining the pylon.

The complaint is separate from a report prepared by the authority for then-Energy Minister Simeon Brown last September.

An Electricity Authority spokesperson said a complaint had been lodged because the alleged breach of the Electricity Industry Participation Code was significant in its duration, severity and impact; it involved a critical asset; and it undermined security of supply.

The complaint would be assessed by the Rulings Panel, an independent body set up to enforce the code.

The maximum penalty it can impose is a fine of $2 million.

The spokesperson said the panel’s decision would help provide clarity on what’s required of electricity asset owners, and could help prevent similar incidents in future.

A Transpower spokesperson said the company was working through the complaint and would engage fully in the Rulings Panel process.

Estimates for the cost of the outage to Northland businesses ranged from $37.5 million to $80m, prompting Northland’s Chamber of Commerce and Northland MP Grant McCallum to push hard for compensation.

Transpower would not pay compensation but eventually agreed to pay $500,000 towards a contestable “resilience fund” to support projects delivering long-term benefits to Northlanders.

Omexom, the French-owned company contracted by Transpower to maintain its pylons, also contributed $500,000 to the fund.

– RNZ