Energy Minister Simeon Brown is promising a full review into Northland’s “unacceptable” power outage on this week. 

Brown drove up to Northland on Friday to see the damaged pylon that fell over on June 20, then meet with local mayors and emergency operators. 

He shared his concern for any Northlanders still without power, as well as impacted businesses: “It is unacceptable what happened yesterday; it just should not happen.” 

On top of Transpower’s own investigation, Brown will ask the Electricity Authority to review the incident and is considering a Government review. 

Northland’s extensive power cut could cost the region $60 million by the end of Saturday, economics consultants Infometrics says, RNZ has reported. 

As people were maintaining the pylon when it collapsed, WorkSafe has also been notified and may launch its own investigation. 

Brown said he came up to Whangārei to gain a better understanding of the impact on Northlanders. 

“I’m here because the Government cares about Northland. Northland is a critical part of Northland and we want to make sure the resilience of this community is a priority.” 

Transpower executive general manager - grid delivery Mark Ryall agreed the incident was unacceptable. 

“We apologise for the inconvenience of people being without power yesterday. It is unacceptable - a pylon shouldn’t just fall down. 

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“We are committed to getting power fully back up and then finding out what happened, and we will be open and honest with that review.” 

While Ryall would not be drawn on what happened, he said it was believed to be an isolated incident with no risk that another pylon would fall. 

Brown said he has been informed by Transpower that the temporary replacement structure will be in Auckland tonight and, if all things go well, in place by Saturday evening. 

Power restored 

Power returned to all homes in Northland last night after thousands of people lost electricity due to a transmission tower falling in a field near Glorit. 

Both Northpower and Top Energy have confirmed that all of their combined 100,000 customers had their power restored yesterday evening. 

However, the power companies are requesting that the public use their electricity wisely and be prepared for the possibility of more outages if power demand exceeds. 

Northpower spokeswoman Rachel Wansbone said all residential and most businesses have had their power restored. 

The downed pylon near Kaipara. Photo / Michael Craig 

She urged the public to conserve electricity because following the tower incident, they were running on reduced power. 

“We got through last night’s peak power use time (5pm–9pm) with everyone conserving as much energy as possible, and by turning off the hot water.” 

She said credit also goes to large industrial customers like Fonterra and Golden Bay Cement among others who have limited their use of power and will continue to do so until Monday. 

Top Energy spokesperson Philippa White said while some “pocket” areas in the Far North may still be without power, the cause was not related to the Transpower issue. 

“To our knowledge, everyone has got their power back. We have our generator on with additional support from Ngāwhā,” White said. 

The downed pylon near Kaipara. Photo / Michael Craig 

Far North Mayor Moko Tepania said it was incredibly frustrating that Northland had to go through this and added that the region was fortunate to have Ngāwhā come to the rescue. 

“This isn’t the first time that it has saved us. Earlier this year we had rolling blackouts across the country where consumption outweighed the demand. 

“What we need is an upgrade of the surrounding infrastructure in our lines.” 

Tepania said while the Kaikohe township got their power back by Thursday afternoon, several homes in communities like Haruru Falls got their electricity around 9.30 pm. 

He looked forward to working with the Central government to ensure an incident of this nature never happened again. 

Far North Kahika (Mayor) Moko Tepania. Photo / Michael Cunningham 

“I’m grateful that there is going to be a full independent investigation into this as our Minister of Energy Simeon Brown said this morning. 

“The other thing that needs to be reviewed is the phone towers which kept failing despite having a backup battery that should last for 24 hours. It’s just not good enough,” Tepania said. 

Northland MP Grant McCallum agreed, and after having driven past the pylon this morning, McCullum commented that it was “sobering” and understands that a replacement is underway. 

He was looking forward to what the external inquiry would bring out and expressed his desire to “lobby hard” for some big investments up North. “Because Northlanders deserve better, and we’ve had enough.” 

Far North Civil Defence Chair Kelly Stratford said following the power cut, she received many calls and messages from people who expressed their concern over the unexpected power failure. 

“Some asked whether they needed to get their own generators while other small providers like foodbanks were worried about their supplies in their freezers getting spoilt.” 

Far North deputy mayor Kelly Stratford. Photo / Michael Cunningham 

Stratford said she also got distress calls from some residential care facilities and her team advised locals in every Far North community to look after each other, especially check on their elderly who may not have means to communicate with the outside world. 

A Transpower spokesman said their engineering teams have been working hard to restore full supply to Northland. 

“Our main focus is to restore the full supply as soon as possible. We like to clarify that we will soon launch an investigation and cannot talk further on what happened as it would just be speculation,” he said. 

Transpower had initially hoped to be able to lift the fallen tower to restore one 220kV circuit by Friday afternoon. 

But he said it was now clear that the best option was to put in a temporary tower and lift a circuit across to it. The work is expected to be completed by this weekend. 

“Electricity demand is much less on weekends and Transpower expects that the 110kV line and local generation should be able to supply all of Northland over the weekend” “Transpower asks those in areas from Warkworth northwards who have power to continue to conserve it during peak times on Friday (6am to 9am and 5pm to 9pm),” he said. 

Some examples of how those in impacted areas who do have power can help during the peaks are: 

• Turn off heaters and lights in rooms you are not using. 
• Use large appliances sparingly (such as washing machines, dryers and dishwashers). 
• Charge electric vehicles only as needed. 
• The spokesperson said people with power should stay warm by heating rooms they are using. 

However, they could consider turning down the temperature slightly (1-2 degrees). More updates will be provided on Transpower’s website and Facebook page. 

People can also check the websites of their local lines company (Top Energy, Northpower or Vector) for up-to-date outage information.