The biggest financial losses were suffered in the Bay of Islands where a 3000-passenger cruise ship was in port but many businesses couldn't open.
In January, two Moerewa men - Nathan John Cooper, 46, and Korey Sesil Pirini, 28 - were arrested and charged with intentionally damaging power insulators and unlawful possession of firearms.
Cooper pleaded guilty and was sentenced in April to 23 months' jail.
Pirini, who also faced charges of cultivating cannabis and dangerous driving, pleaded not guilty and had a judge-only trial in the Kaikohe District Court last Monday.
Police, however, couldn't prove he shot at the insulators and contributed to the blackout.
He admitted shooting at a sign attached to the pylon and was sentenced on the amended charge, intentional damage to a sign, to 150 hours' community work.
Pirini was also disqualified from driving for six months on the driving charge.
During Cooper's sentencing on April 7, the court was told he was going hunting with a group of friends when they got a flat tyre in the middle of a forestry block.
In the early hours of the following morning, using a shotgun and a .303 rifle, they shot at three pylons about 500m apart.
The cost of repairs was $41,000 but the total indirect cost to the Far North community, as estimated by Transpower, was $6-10 million.
Judge Greg Davis accepted that Cooper's remorse and shame were genuine, and took his early guilty plea into account when setting his sentence.
He warned Cooper to steer clear of firearms, and that he was not permitted to hunt because of previous offences and his lack of a firearms licence.
"You and they [firearms] should keep well apart," he said.
Judge Davis did not order the $41,000 reparation sought by Transpower because of Cooper's jail term and because it was unlikely he would be able to pay.
The real cost
The financial losses suffered by businesses during the December 8 blackout can be estimated - but Judge Greg Davis said he couldn't even guess the real cost to the Far North community.
During Cooper's sentencing earlier this year Judge Davis told the story of a 5-year-old girl from the Kerikeri area who had a hospital appointment on the morning of the power cut as an example of the human cost.
Her family had waited six months for the appointment so they planned to get up early, fill up the car and drive to Whangarei. However, all petrol stations in the area were closed and they missed the appointment. They had to wait three more months before they had another chance.
"These are the real costs that out community faces. Dollar costs are often able to be quantified ... but the cost to human beings is, in my view, something that simply cannot be recovered or put a price on."
