Otago power poles still failing due to 'prolonged under-investment'

Thursday, 21 March 2019

The bosses of an under-fire electricity company say their power poles keep failing in Central Otago due to an inherited legacy of network under-investment.

Aurora Energy came under fire at a Central Otago District Council meeting on Wednesday over 'deep' concerns that its infrastructure is still failing, including a power pole that fell outside a Clyde school in December.

The council considered a Notice of Motion that raised safety concerns and a lack of confidence in Aurora Energy to ensure its testing regime and maintenance was safe and reliable. 

The Clyde pole collapsed after two inspections in the months before the failure, including a mechanical pole test in April and visual inspection and dig in November. Forensic testing is currently being done on the pole, which showed signs of 'carroty rot'.

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'The collapse of this pole is clear evidence that the testing procedure being used by Aurora Energy is not working … The failure of this pole could have caused multiple deaths of children if it had fallen hours earlier or later,' the motion says.

Aurora Energy chief executive Richard Fletcher said the company was trying to address the 'prolonged period of under-investment' and admitted it was not operating efficiently.

'Aurora today is a lot different from the Aurora two years ago … We are not efficient as a business and neither would we be because we are effectively a new business.'

In 2017, the structure of how the network was managed between Delta Utility Services and Aurora Energy was overhauled and the business split. The changes came after a whistleblower within Aurora exposed the company's failure to maintain its network in 2016.

The Commerce Commission announced in September it would file court proceedings against the company for breaching its regulated quality standards in 2016 and 2017.

The 'new' company had a 'robust' programme of work planned driven by safety, reliability and growth. However, that needed balanced with 'reactive things' like poles failing, Fletcher said.

'We have had a number of visible issues with assets failing and that is as much a concern to us as it to yourselves. We have to divert resources to look at why that is happening and what we can do about it.'

Aurora Energy was investing a significant amount of money on improving the network, spending $84 million in 2018 compared with $27m in 2014.

'We replaced over 12 per cent of poles on the network … 6000-plus poles. Have we hit all the poles that need replaced, no, but we do have a plan to do that.

'We are still on the naughty step with the commission – let's be blunt – and we are still being monitored very closely.'