Electricity spike during Rugby World Cup final

People rushed to call friends, send texts, share moments on social media during and after the Rugby World Cup final yesterday morning.

The final also caused a spike in electricity demand at half-time that was equivalent to all home appliances in a town the size of Taupo being turned on all at once.

Vodafone reported more than 1.7 million text messages were sent on its network between 5am and 8am on Sunday.

That was a 240 per cent increase on the same time on a regular weekend, and a 168 per cent increase on the number of texts sent during the semifinal.

Immediately after the game had finished, Vodafone customers called friends to share the excitement, boosting the number of calls by 42 per cent on a regular weekend in the same time period.

Mobile data traffic was also boosted on the Vodafone network during the final. Vodafone reported a 41 per cent increase in data traffic compared with the same time during the New Zealand versus France quarter-final.

Vector Ltd, the company that manages the electricity for Auckland region, said there was a big increase in electricity demand on Sunday morning.

Vector reported a spike in electricity demand as people got up before 5am to turn the game on, and then an 80 megawatt jump at halftime, as people got off the couch to make a cup of tea.