- Thousands of homes across Otago and Southland remained without power as of midday Tuesday
- Cold and snowy weather is making power restoration work more difficult for field crews
- PowerNet is prioritising critical sites and urging residents to seek support if needed
Work continued across Otago and Southland on Tuesday to restore power following recent outages, with crews facing cold and snowy conditions that have made their efforts more challenging.
Updated: As of 6pm on Tuesday 28 October, around 3,900 customers in Southland and 1,700 in Otago were still without power, according to PowerNet Chief Executive Paul Blue. he Power Company Limited network (Southland)
“Today’s weather is definitely adding another factor to our work, and we appreciate that this will also be adding to the stress of our customers without power,” said Blue.
“We are urging people without power who need support to reach out to their local Emergency Management teams.”
PowerNet is prioritising restoration of critical infrastructure such as mobile towers and water treatment facilities. Dairy farms are also being worked on, although the damage in rural areas has been described as widespread and complex.
Blue acknowledged that many individual homes remain without power, even in areas where general supply has been restored.
“We are also very aware that there are a lot of individual properties out there who remain without power where power has been restored to the general area. We have not forgotten those people and are finalising a plan to manage these as soon as possible,” he said.
“My message to our communities today is please continue to be patient, we will get to you as quickly as possible. Also, please keep yourself safe – reach out for support if you need to, stay away from damaged lines, don’t attempt to clear debris yourself.”
Power Outage Figures at 12pm, 28 October
- The Power Company Limited (Southland): 38,200 total customers, 4,800 without power
- OtagoNet (South Otago): 15,700 total customers, 1,889 without power