Kerikeri resident Anne-Marie Morris and her partner Don are frustrated at frequent power outages in the Far North.
Frequent power cuts in the Far North have left some residents, including a medically dependent resident and a couple who need reliable electricity for their IT work, living in an “anxious state”.
There have been numerous unplanned outages in the Far North since October – including several already this year – because of fallen trees, bad weather, equipment failures, car crashes, electrical boxes catching fire, and even burned birds on power poles.
On December 29, a tree caused a power outage for more than 800 households in Kerikeri, and a vehicle crash caused another one on the same day in Mangōnui.
Two days later, in Russell, an electrical fire which started in a pillar box cut power to 60 businesses during the busiest time of their trading year.
On January 3, Kerikeri residents took to social media to vent their frustration about yet another outage.
The blackout affected 1267 households in Landing Rd, Waipapa Rd, Riverview Rd, Kendall Rd, Skudders Beach, and parts of Kapiro Rd, lasting two and a half hours.
Resident Anne-Marie Morris said the power went out at her place about 8am for about 90 minutes.
The web designer and her husband both work from home and rely on the internet, including for meetings with large global companies.
“It’s beyond a joke,” she said.
“We had that outage in October, another in November, and it was only January 3, and we had this one.
“And these aren’t the only ones; we’ve had others in our time up here.
“It’s crazy we have so many.”
Morris said she’s lived in various towns and cities, including Auckland, Mount Maunganui, and Cambridge.
“I have never experienced so many power outages as what I’ve been through here in the past two years.
“You get power cuts but it’s once in a blue moon.
“You live in this anxious state, even with family staying at Christmas you worry.”
Another resident wrote: “Hate to sound like a Karen ... but I’m so over these power outages! Hopefully it won’t be a long wait.”
One man said he’d been in Kerikeri two years and experienced “regular power cuts”.
“My wife and I commented to each other how many there are.
“When the power goes, everything goes, no water, no sewage etc.”
The most recent outage was believed to have started at the Riverview feeder.
A Top Energy spokeswoman said the 11kV line was patrolled following “protection operation”.
“Our fault responders found a burnt bird on a pole causing a short between the HV conductor to earth.”
The cause of the Russell pillar box fire is still being investigated, but Top Energy said it is confident it was not because of overloading.
There were also several huge power outages between October 31 and November 8 across the entire southern part of the district.
Two of those outages cut power to 23,000 customers, including one which lasted for six hours and was caused by a failure of the 33kV switchboard at Kaikohe substation, sparking a Commerce Commission investigation.
When asked if residents could expect more frequent outages this year, the spokeswoman said, “The Far North has recently experienced a period of strong winds interspersed with intermittent heavy rain bursts.
“This has resulted in some powerline damage.
“Further contribution to outages over the holiday period were three car versus pole events, plus a third party who lost control of a tree while felling damaging to multiple poles and HV conductors.”
Massey University sustainable energy expert Emeritus Professor Ralph Sims said the amount of power outages “sounds a lot” and could be because of maintenance and upgrading issues.
“There’s a continual upgrade needed because of extra demand for electricity, and this could be part of the problem in Northland.
“If lines aren’t up to capacity and transformers are not maintained, you’re going to get more outages.”
Sims said there were 24 lines companies in New Zealand which was “bizarre for country of this size”.
“Because of the demand for more and more electricity, only so much can flow through a system. If the volume is increasing, it puts more load on.
“The lines company should be able to handle that.
“What you can’t have as much control over is when more storms and trees fall down over power lines, and that’s happening throughout New Zealand in recent times.
“We are experiencing more extreme weather as a result of climate change ... the only thing power line companies can do is to cut the trees back or bury the cables in town - but that’s pretty expensive.”
Under the Electricity (Hazards from Trees) Regulations 2003, landowners are legally required to keep trees on their property clear of lines.
Northland MP Grant McCallum said he would lobby to get laws changed so lines companies could create wider corridors when clearing trees.
Sims said individuals and businesses could install solar panels that are designed to function even when the lines are down.
“It does give independence from outages for a few hours.”
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.