UPDATED: Power is back on in homes around the Western Bay of Plenty after hundreds of TrustPower customers were left without power on Sunday.
Four power cuts affected hundreds of customers in Katikati, Paengaroa, Papamoa, and Omanu/Matapihi.
PowerCo is reporting no outages in the Bay of Plenty region today.
A recorded message on the TrustPower faults line stated the lines company was at work on the cable fault that has blacked out parts of Katikati, but it has been unable to give a restoration time for any of the power cuts.
Bonner and Lorraine Martin of Fairview Rd Katikati supplied elderly neighbours with hot water boiled on their motorhome stove last night and on Sunday as the power cut which began at 4pm on Saturday continued.
'TrustPower said the problem was underground and it was too wet yesterday to do anything about it, but they would have someone on site at first light. I've been for a drive in the area and couldn't see anyone working on the fault,” says Bonner who was an electricity faultman in the Katikati area until he retired 16 years ago.
'When they closed the Katikati depot 16 years ago, Eddie Graham of the Tauranga Electric Power Board was quoted in the local paper as saying Katikati's gold standard electrical service would be replaced with a silver standard service. From what I've seen in this current case I'd say it's not even worthy of a bronze.”
Bonner says such an extended period without electricity is very hard on the many elderly people who live in the Fairview Road area and believes it would have been unacceptable in the days when he was a faultman.
'We would do everything we could to get the power back on no matter what the weather.”
At 10am on Sunday TrustPower was reporting power was out in Katikati in the area of Fairview Rd, Kea St, Tui St, Heron Cres, Blundell Place, Alexander St and surrounds.
At Papamoa East power was out in Golden Courie Close, Gibson Place, Papamoa Beach Road and surrounds. The lines company has been unable to provide TrustPower with an estimated restoration time.
At Omanu, Matapihi and Te Maunga the power cut was thought to be caused by downed power lines. No estimated repair time has been provided.
Power was also out in Paengaroa in the Maungarangi Road/Partridge Lane Allports Road areas.
2 comments
hundreds without power
Posted on 12-08-2012 11:24 | By Janet1
I understand that Papamoa East had a tornado pass through around 3am this morning also.
Power to the people
Posted on 13-08-2012 13:53 | By PeteDashwood
If it's true that the lines company stopped work because it was raining, then we have indeed gone too far down the road of Nannyism. If they didn't, then full kudos and support to them for doing a professional job. People deprived of power in this day and age is just unthinkable. We are not a Banana Republic; we SHOULD be able to provide power services to the population under normal circumstances. I reckon people deprived of power for days should get a free month's electricity for every day they were deprived... seems fair to me.
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