Aurora Energy apologises to Central Otago customers impacted by a series of power cuts over the past week.

Aurora Energy General Manager Operations and Network Performance Matt Settle said there were several unrelated faults that resulted in customers having unplanned power outages at various times. 

“Late last week one of the main power lines that supplies the area had a planned outage to keep our contractors safe while they were replacing power poles.

"Unfortunately, the second line tripped and the team responded as quickly as possible to get power back on for our customers.

"The cause was not immediately obvious but was ultimately tracked down to a defective insulator that has now been replaced,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate that we’ve had a number of outages in the same area over a short timeframe and apologise to our customers for the inconvenience we know this caused them.”

“We are grateful to our contractors who respond to faults around the clock,” Matt said.

Another outage happened earlier this week when electrical circuits were being reconfigured and the line tripped, following a new insulator being installed.

“This event is being investigated as we believe our operational response was not optimal and outages could have been avoided."

On Wednesday night a fault with a transformer in Wanaka caused another power cut.

Aurora Energy has a five-year work programme to invest in upgrades to the electricity network in Central Otago, Queenstown Lakes and Dunedin, after a history of under-investment.

In early March a project to replace equipment in the Pisa Moorings and Lowburn area will help improve the quality of electricity supply.

Some customers will have a planned outage while this work is done and will receive notification closer to the time.

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