The Commerce Commission is reviewing recent power outages in the Far North which failed to comply with quality standards.
Far North lines company Top Energy could be fined up to $5m after a Commerce Commission review into the largest of several recent power outages.
Four power outages from October 31 to November 8 cut power to thousands of households and businesses across a large chunk of the district.
However, the scale of the November 6 outagetriggered a breach of the Commerce Commission’s reliability threshold.
The commission has confirmed an in-house engineer will investigate to provide information for the review and when complete, “compliance action” will be determined.
The company could face anything from no action, to a warning letter, or court action with a fine of up to $5m.
Top Energy chief executive Russell Shaw said the lines company would “collaborate fully with the Commerce Commission and comply with their findings”.
“The regulatory framework includes checks and balances to ensure proper maintenance is conducted by the lines companies.
“We have informed the commission of the breach and will work through the process with them.”
The first of several power outages in the Far North, on October 31, cut power to 23,000 households in the Bay of Islands, Kawakawa, Whangaroa, Kaikohe and parts of the Hokianga.
It was caused by a tree that fell on the 33kV line to Mt Pokaka. The cut lasted more than two hours.
Another outage on November 8 affected 2000 households in the Hokianga and customers in Puketona and Oromahoe.
But it’s the November 6 outage that left 23,000 households and businesses without power for more than six hours that will be the centre of the Commerce Commission review.
It was caused by what Top Energy called “a catastrophic failure” of the 33kV switchboard at Kaikohe substation.
Commerce Commission infrastructure regulation general manager Andy Burgess said the outages “failed to comply with a quality standard set by the commission”.
The breach relates to the “extreme event” threshold, he said.
“The extreme outage threshold is for an outage duration value greater than 120 minutes and where customers were without power for 6 million minutes.”
Burgess said Top Energy was required to submit its next compliance statement, including a formal notification of the quality breach, by August 31, 2026.
“Once we have received the formal notification, we can commence our investigation,” Burgess said.
“If the commission concludes that Top Energy’s asset management practices contributed to a breach, there are a range of compliance options we can take.”
Northland MP Grant McCallum said he was looking forward to the outcome.
“It’s really important we have a full independent inquiry, and the Commerce Commission is well placed to do it.
“All people in Northland are keen to understand what went on.
“A reliable power network is essential for all of us.”
Shaw said the Kaikohe equipment should have had a life of many decades.
The company has ordered replacement equipment, and is “working with the manufacturer to understand exactly what happened”.
McCallum said the equipment used at the Kaikohe substation was commonly used by New Zealand power companies but none held spare units.
“This incident has raised concerns across the energy sector - if it can happen here, it could happen anywhere.
“It’s important that lessons are learned and contingency planning strengthened.”
While Top Energy hasn’t breached the ‘extreme event’ threshold before, the lines company breached quality standards in 2023 because of the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle.
In 2023, Vector was fined nearly $1.2m in the Auckland High Court for excessive power network outages between 2017 and 2020.
McCallum said he would also be lobbying to get laws changed so lines companies could create “wider corridors” when clearing trees.
“Under current laws companies are limited as to what they can do to clear trees from lines.
“I’m keen to see lines companies able to create a wider corridors so when we get storm events, we get fewer or no trees falling on power lines.”
Under the Electricity (Hazards from Trees) Regulations 2003, landowners are legally required to keep trees on their property clear of lines.
Jenny Ling is a senior journalist at the Northern Advocate. She has a special interest in covering human interest stories, along with finance, roading, and social issues.