A multi-million dollar investment has seen Far North power company Top Energy take ownership of all the electricity lines in its area.
Top Energy has bought Transpower's assets in the Far North as part of its long-term bid to improve the reliability and security of the region's electricity supply.
Theassets, including Transpower's substations in Kaitaia and Kaikohe, and 90km of 110kV line connecting the two substations, are worth just over $6 million. The purchase price is being kept secret for commercially sensitive reasons but the company did say it was for "millions".
The purchase is part of Top Energy's reliability improvement strategy expected to cost a total of $160 million over the next five years, which includes building a back-up 110kv line to Kaitaia and a new solar power project trial.
The company will double its existing 33kv network by 2020 and back-up infrastructure to cut power outages further.
It will also construct more substations across its region to reduce the number and duration of power outages and install supply lines to Kerikeri and Waipapa.
Top Energy chief executive Russell Shaw said having the entire local lines network operated by just one company would result in savings and efficiencies worth $10 million over the next five years and would help keep power bills down in the long term.
"It takes Far North network maintenance and investment decisions and puts these into the hands of people who live and work in our own community," he said. "It's a really positive move for the Far North."
He said the asset transfer was critical to Top Energy's network expansion and reliability plans between now and 2020 and would reduce the cost of connecting new electricity supply projects.
"Instead of two companies making network investments and, in many cases duplicating the costs of doing so, we'll be responsible for it all."
He said the company had doubled the reliability of the region's electricity supply since 2009 through increased investment, and planned to double it again by 2015 to bring performance figures into line with similar network operators.
"We've still got a long way to go but we're well on track to meeting the community's expectations of no more than two outages a year, each lasting less than two hours.
"Most people I speak to have noticed a huge improvement over the past few years and I'm promising more of the same."
