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Central Wellington businesses are pushing for compensation after three power cuts this week forced them to close in the busy lead-up to Christmas.
The Retailers Association has lodged a complaint with the Electricity and Gas Complaints Commission and the Wellington Chamber of Commerce has been asked to seek compensation on behalf of its members.
Association chief executive John Albertson said he had had some "fiery people" on the phone.
"There has been a loss of revenue and we need to take it seriously. It's only been two days but they're two very important days for retailers," he told the Dominion Post.
Chamber of Commerce chief executive Charles Finny said after surveying "several hundred" businesses, 70 per cent wanted compensation.
"Quite a number of members have been affected. They're obviously keen for us to talk to Vector about the problems and the compensation issue," he said.
Three power cuts within 24 hours on Monday and Tuesday forced businesses to send staff home and retailers to close, on one of the busiest weeks of the year. The outages also affected traffic lights with police advising motorists to delay any travel.
Vector Energy said the cause of the outages could be related to work curently being carried out on upgrading Wellington downtown's electricity network.
Vector acting chief executive Simon MacKenzie said compensation would be considered once Vector had completed an investigation into the outages.
- NZPA
