Gate Pā residents powerless despite ‘fixed’ claim

Hynds Rd, Gate Pa, Tauranga. Image/Google Streetview.

Some Gate Pā residents are perplexed after both Powerco and their individual power companies told them “it’s all fixed” following a power cut on Sunday night.

“The power’s still off,” said Chris, a Hynds Rd resident dealing with having to throw out a freezer full of frozen food, 21 hours after the outage. He did not want his surname published.

“We rang our power company, who said Powerco had reported to them that it’s all fixed.

“My neighbour rang Powerco, who said, “Get in touch with your power company”.

“The power company … said it’s fixed and told them that they should get in touch with Powerco.

“I’ve tried to get in touch with Powerco, but the message comes up that unless it’s an emergency you need to contact your power company directly.”

The “getting nowhere fast” dilemma began about 6pm on Sunday.

“We heard an extremely loud arcing noise which lasted about five to six seconds,” Chris said.

“It was so loud. Half the street came out to see what was happening.

“Some I spoke to reported seeing large, flaming arcs coming from the Chadwick Rd direction going up above the power lines into the sky. It was so loud it sounded like it was just outside our window, but it was about 500 metres down the road.”

Chris said many neighbours called their power companies on Sunday night.

“We saw some Powerco trucks last night and again this morning, out and about.”

The Powerco website showed 96 properties still affected on Sunday night, he said.

“It went down to zero houses affected about 9am this morning, although our places were still without power. And the power is still off at our house in Hynds Rd and at least four other neighbours.

“But Powerco and our power companies are saying to us ‘it’s all fixed’. It’s been 21 hours now with no power. I’m having to throw out all the food from the freezer.”

A Powerco spokesperson said there was a power outage at 5.55pm on Sunday, affecting close to 2000 customers in Tauranga.

“The cause of the outage is under investigation. Power was restored to the majority of customers by midnight via generation.”

Powerco said “upon investigation, the company needed to turn the power off to some of the 2000 customers today to safely access and repair the network”.

“As customers’ power is on, thanks to generation, nothing will show on the outage map. Apologies that we can’t provide an accurate number of customers who will have their power turned off to safely fix the fault, but we endeavour to ensure the outage causes minimal impact.

“We apologise for the inconvenience this causes customers.

“Power is expected to be restored to all customers by 6pm tonight. Powerco thanks customers for their patience as we carry out these essential repairs.”