Far North power outage cuts electricity to more than 23,000 homes

The scale of the power outage in the Far North as of 4pm Friday. Photo / Top Energy website

More than 23,000 homes and businesses in the Far North are without power after an unplanned outage in the Top Energy network.

The power went out about 3.40pm and disconnected customers north of Hikurangi, south of Mangōnui and across the width of the North Island.

Towns affected include Kaikohe, Kerikeri and Kawakawa. Paihia, Russell and the wider Bay of Islands are among places affected.

Top Energy’s faults site estimated power would be restored about 7pm.

Equipment failure at the Kaikohe substation was suspected but initial investigations by Top Energy crews on site showed no apparent issues.

Instead, it appeared a fault has occurred on the 33 kV line to Mt Pokaka.

“Unfortunately, the primary protection didn’t operate as expected which would have limited the outage to a localised area, so backup protection tripped the station, causing a wider outage,” Top Energy said.

“We will be investigating further, and we apologise for the inconvenience this has caused on a Friday afternoon heading into the weekend.”

Hato Hone St John said the outage had not impacted its operations.

Health NZ confirmed generators at the Kaitāia and Bay of Islands hospitals had kicked in, meaning they were able to operate as normal.

The Northern Advocate has contacted other emergency services to see whether they are impacted.

More to come.