Vector forking out $300k in lines fee rebates for outages during Auckland storm

Falling trees and branches from the April 10 storm knocked out power to about 150,000 Auckland properties at its peak. Photo / Alison Murray

Vector is reassuring Auckland customers affected by power outages during the April storm they won't be charged fixed line fees.

Waimauku resident Greg White raised concerns after he received a bill from his power company, Trustpower, which included fixed charges over the three days his power was out.

While his fees were only about 35 cents a day, adding up to just over $1, about 222,000 properties were affected by power outages following the storm on April 10. Some properties were without power for nearly two weeks.

"This all adds up to a considerable amount of money if everyone is owed a few dollars, for something that was never actually provided," White said.

About half of the fixed daily fee goes to Vector for lines charges, and the other half covers meter charges.

A spokesman for Vector said affected customers would not be charged for fixed lines for the period April 11–22.

The rebate had only been agreed on Tuesday, so retailers wouldn't have had time to apply it to the last bill, he said.

"This customer's bill will almost certainly have been finalised before the details of the rebate were given to their retailer.

"Vector always intended to rebate affected customers for the outage. The difficult part was deciding how to apply this."

Vector estimated about 220,000 customers were affected by outages in the 11 days after the storm. About 95 per cent of those had power restored within 48 hours.

White said it was good Vector was sorting it out.

"It is good Vector has come to the party, but [the rebate] could have been communicated better."

Falling trees and branches from the April 10 storm knocked out power to about 150,000 Auckland properties at its peak. Photo / Alison Murray

Vector's spokesman said there were difficulties identifying exact outage times, so the company had decided on an overall credit amount and apportioned it to retailers.

"It will be up to each retailer when and how they apply the rebate."

The rebate would cost Vector about $300,000, he said. Vector was also paying for network repairs and restoring individual service lines, due to the storm damage.

However, the rebate did not cover meter charges, as these came from metering service providers.

"It is up to each retailer if and how they pass on that cost to customers."

Trustpower general manager customer operations Fiona Smith said they would work with Vector to identify which customers were affected.

"Once Vector has passed that credit to retailers, we will ensure that is credited, in full, to our customer's account."

While they did not have a confirmed date from Vector about when this could occur, they hoped to be able to apply the credits to accounts in June.