Electricity off for capital businesses

Power lines company Vector is confident electricity will be fully restored to central Wellington this morning after a fire in a cable cut power to more than 1600 premises yesterday.

The fire broke out at a Vector sub-station beneath the carpark of the James Cook Hotel on The Terrace just before 9am, forcing about 70 hotel guests to evacuate.

Vector spokesman Keith FitzPatrick said 1629 premises in the CBD lost power.

"We had alternative power supply switching from other substations in Wellington, and by 1pm we had 95 per cent of customers restored.

"We're confident the substation will at least be partially restored by [last night] for downtown offices to have sufficient power by morning. But we don't have a time when the substation will be fully restored."

The Fire Service had to wait for the substation area to be ventilated and the power to be shut down before getting to the blaze.

Spokeswoman Belinda Beets said it was extinguished at 11.40am. Firefighters continued to dampen down hotspots and by about 4pm the hotel was cleared of toxic gases.

Mr FitzPatrick said initial signs were that an electrical fault at a cable joint started the fire, which then spread to surrounding cables. "We'll be conducting a full investigation."

The power cut follows a gas outage last month that cost the hospitality industry millions of dollars.

James Cook Hotel general manager John Primmer said yesterday disruption had been minimal and guests were allowed back in from about 1pm.

"Luckily it's Labour weekend, so Wellington's pretty dead at the moment."