Whanganui streets left in the dark after signal fails

Council transport manager Damian Wood says Powerco turns on streetlights by sending a signal through power lines. Photo / Bevan Conley

Streetlights were out across parts of Whanganui last Sunday, with Whanganui District Council receiving multiple after-hours calls.

Council transport manager Damian Wood said Powerco turned on streetlights by sending a signal through the power lines.

That activated 40 switches which controlled various areas of Whanganui.

“If multiple streetlights are out, it means the signal hasn’t come through properly due to an issue with relay equipment,” he said.

“Our contractor called the Powerco representative and requested that the signal be sent again.“

Wood said Powerco had no way of monitoring whether all streetlights had gone on.

“If there’s an issue, we ask people to please call the council.

The after-hours service would notify a contractor to assess the problem, he said.

“If multiple streetlights are out, the contractors will contact a Powerco representative to ask Powerco to resend the signal to switch the streetlights on.

“If a single streetlight is out, it’s likely to be an issue with council-owned equipment or Powerco-owned equipment and arrangements for repairs will be made.”

Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.