Day-long power cut looms for Kaitaia area

One of the backup generators which will keep the power on in central Kaitaia during a planned outage on November 18. Photo / Top Energy

A major power outage will affect Kaitaia and surrounding areas — including North Hokianga, parts of Doubtless Bay and the Aupouri Peninsula — for eight hours on Sunday, The 8am to 5pm power cut will allow power company Top Energy to carry out maintenance on the main line to Kaitaia.

While the planned outages occur about once a year, the difference this time is that diesel generators will keep the power on for about 2000 households and businesses in central Kaitaia.

About double that number of customers in Taipa, Mangonui and Oruru will be supplied by backup generators which have been in place near Taipa since 2012.

Top Energy chief executive Russell Shaw said without diesel generation the outage would have left 10,000 homes and businesses without power.

The generators, producing a combined 6.2MW, would reduce the number of affected customers to 4850.

However, it was ''absolutely essential'' people in areas with backup generation limited their power use to avoid overloading the generators, for example by delaying high-energy tasks such as using washing machines and air conditioning.

"Remember to fill your petrol tank before the outage as pumps and eftpos won't work, and store some water if you rely on electricity to pump your water," Shaw said.

More information on the outage will be posted on Top Energy's online outage centre, outages.topenergy.co.nz, and the Top Energy Outage App, available from iTunes or Google Play Store.

Customers who relied on electricity for medical equipment should contact their health providers for advice.

Shaw said backup generation was part of the company's strategy to boost reliability until long-term initiatives such as the Ngawha power station expansion came on stream.

The Kaitaia generators would be used to secure the power supply in Top Energy's northern network until a second 110kV line into Kaitaia was built.

Over the summer two 1MW diesel generators would be installed at Omanaia to supply 1600 customers in southwest Hokianga while a substation and 33kV line were upgraded.

Once that project was finished the generators would be relocated to the Kaitaia generator park.

If the November 18 outage can't proceed it will be postponed to the following Sunday, November 25.