KEY POINTS:
An irate apartment dweller facing his third day without hot water short-circuited the system to get power through to hot water cylinders.
Birkenhead resident Bill Plunkett said he got an electrician to override the power supply regulator at his 10-apartment block on Thursday.
Mr Plunkett, 58, said he feared for the health of elderly residents in the block.
He "revelled" in properly showering yesterday for the first time since Tuesday and said the override would be reversed when hot water was restored.
Mr Plunkett was among hundreds of North Shore residents who have shivered through the last few days. Local MPs the North Shore's Dr Wayne Mapp and Northcote's Dr Jonathan Coleman said constituents reported they were "fobbed off" by the lines company Vector.
The National Party MPs said constituents likened the situation to the Third World and reported waiting up to 50 minutes for a response to their calls.
"It seems that the technology on the North Shore isn't as good as it needs to be," said Dr Mapp.
The North Shore City Council got dozens of calls from pockets across the city, including Belmont, Milford and Browns Bay.
One man said he resorted to using a watering can filled with hot water from a jug. Homes in Waitakere City were also without hot water.
Vector yesterday said it was aware some Auckland homes did not have water heating but its focus had been on customers who had no power at all.
A spokesman said the storm conditions were "hugely difficult" and caused a big outage.
At the peak of the storm damage it had 141,000 customers without electricity, reduced to 500 last night.
It had dedicated crews working through the weekend to fully restore the separate cable network controlling hot water cylinders.
It said customers still without hot water today should phone their electricity retailer.
Green Party co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons lost a forest of macrocarpa trees worth around $200,000 when the storm hit the Kauaeranga Valley, near Thames.
Ms Fitzsimons' partner Harry Parke said yesterday the trees were about 14 years old and not insured.
North of Auckland, Vicki Penney in Whangateau, near Leigh, was still cooking for her family of four on their wood fire yesterday, three days after electricity was cut off.
Daughters Michelle, 18, and Tyla, 14, were bored with no TV or computer, said Ms Penney, and the car was in the panelbeaters to fix the rear window, smashed by the swinging garage door in Tuesday's storm.
Rochelle Croft of Makarau, near Kaukapakapa, woke up early yesterday when a hall light shone as power was restored after two days without.
"It's a bit hard in the country without power - you can't flush the toilet or take a shower or anything. We played Scrabble and went to bed early."
