King Country hit by major power outage due to substation fault

Thursday, 6 July 2017

King Country towns have been left in the dark after a fault at a substation.

Transpower NZ said about 4.15pm that power would be out for another two to four hours while technicians establish what the fault is at the Hangatiki substation. 

In a Facebook post, Transpower said: 'Hangatiki Power Outage - update. We need to dispatch our crews physically to site to investigate the issue causing a power outage to the Hangatiki area. We advise residents that it could be 2-4 hours before power is restored to the area. We are working as quickly as possible to restore your power supply safely. Please note that power could be restored at any time so please treat all electrical outlets as live at all times. We will keep this page updated with any developments. We apologise for any inconvenience.'

The Lines Company, which is the power provider to the district, could not be reached by telephone but also took to Facebook explaining the outage. 

Te Kuiti, Piopio and Otorohanga locals have commented on the post confirming outages in their towns. 

Waitomo District Council Councillors Janene New and Terry Davey confirmed the outage. 

'We understand there is a problem at the substation in Hangatiki, nobody knows when the power will be put back on,' Davey said. 

New, who works at Te Kuiti College, said about 3.45pm that the power had been out for 10 minutes. 

'I am getting messages from people in town saying they are out.'