Quake, storm double whammy on power

The Wellington Anniversary Day earthquake and bad weather both took a toll on power supply in Wairarapa on Monday.

More than 5000 homes in the central North Island were left in darkness after Monday's 6.3 earthquake.

The quake, which struck just before 4pm, caused power cuts which affected around 5600 residential properties in Eketahuna, Alfredton, Palmerston North, Feilding and some as far north as Manaia in Taranaki.

As at 3pm yesterday around 120 customers in these areas were still without power.

Powerco contractors worked well into the evening on Monday to repair damages to its high-voltage network, and completed maintenance around 9pm.

Around that time, power had been restored to most of those homes.

However, restoration work was affected by severe weather overnight on Monday which caused a number of small faults on the network, affecting properties in rural areas of Manawatu and Taranaki.

Dean Stevenson, acting network operations manager at Powerco, said contractors were trying to get the power back for the 120 properties, working on two houses at a time.

As of yesterday afternoon they expected to have it completed last night.

"We are down to situations where a fuse supplying a single property requires replacement or the property has sustained damage to the customer's service line," he said.

Powerco had been prioritising restoration of powers to dairy farmers who had stressed cows which needed to be milked urgently.

Mr Stevenson encouraged residents to report any electrical damage to Powerco by calling 0800 272727, and to keep themselves and their children well clear of the damaged area.