National demand for electricity reaches all-time high, cities plunged into darkness to reduce load

Monday, 9 August 2021

Large parts of Hamilton were without power on Monday evening after rolling outages in the region.

Cities and towns across the North Island were plunged into darkness on one of the coldest nights of the year, after nationwide demand for electricity reached an all-time high.

Power generation failed to meet demand across New Zealand on Monday evening. Tens of thousands of households were affected by mass power cuts as a result.

The national grid operator Transpower declared a “grid emergency” at 7pm and asked local distribution companies to reduce load on their networks, a spokeswoman for the organisation, Deborah Gray, said.

It was the first time in 10 years that such an emergency had happened.

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Transpower asked all of its customers to reduce power use initially. For some that would have been as simple as turning off hot water; others turned off power temporarily.

By 8.20pm, power distribution companies were able to increase the amount of power available by 5 per cent and at 9pm the power supply shortage was resolved and all companies could fully restore the amount of power available.

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Luke Blincoe, chief executive of The Energy Collective, said the failure for generation to keep up with demand was 'not a symptom of a functional market'.

Unison, which distributes power to Hawke's Bay, Taupō and Rotorua, said in a Facebook post about 8pm that there were rolling power outages across its network.

'We fully understand that these outages are frustrating and inconvenient, especially given the current cold snap hitting our regions,” the post said.

Temperatures in Napier and Taupō were sitting at around 4C. It was 3C in Rotorua.

In an update at 9pm, Unison said it had restored power to all customers.

“We sincerely apologise that we were unable to provide you with information about these outages earlier, but this was a very dynamic and quickly evolving situation. We appreciate your understanding and support,' the second Facebook post said.

WEL Networks, which is responsible for supplying the Waikato with power, cut off power in some areas of the region, including parts of Hamilton and warned customers in a post on its Facebook page just before 8pm to expect rolling outages.

“As a precautionary measure, all medically dependent customers are advised to action their back-up plans or go to Waikato Hospital if required.”

WEL Networks said in another Facebook post at 9pm it had been authorised to restored power to all affected areas. The company apologised for any inconvenience caused.

Minister of Energy and Resources Megan Woods spoke to the chief executive of Transpower, Alison Andrew, on Monday evening. However, she didn’t want to make any any further comment until she had more information.