Northland electricity outage: Transpower issues grid emergency notice, nearly 100,000 lose power

Power will be restored to most of Northland by this evening and the region’s entire grid should be back online by tomorrow night “at the earliest”, the Minister of Energy said.

But people’s hot water is being turned off tonight to conserve electricity, with customers being urged to conserve power consumption.

And Civil Defence is being scrambled to help vulnerable communities who are still without power.

It comes after Transpower issued a grid emergency notice and launched a “full investigation” into a mass power failure across the region.

The lines operator is working to restore electricity to some areas, while others will continue to experience power cuts, potentially until noon tomorrow.

The sweeping failure has left nearly 100,000 customers without electricity.

A spokesperson said the grid emergency notice would have no impact on the rest of the country but would enable operational changes so Transpower, Northpower and Top Energy could work together to restore power.

Energy Minister Simeon Brown said Transpower had advised him they would be able to restore two-thirds of the electricity supply to Northland by this evening. Full power would not be restored until tomorrow night “at the earliest”, he said.

He said this still left “a significant impact” on Northlanders for the next 24 hours.

Transpower said a time for returning full supply has not yet been determined, but it “will take until late tomorrow at the very earliest”.

The region lost power about 11am after a tower fell south of Wellsford while a second transmission circuit supplying these areas was out of service for scheduled maintenance.

The spokesperson said they were “managing to restore” some supply through the netword’s 110KV circuits after the main 220KV circuits were affected.

“Transpower has launched a full investigation into why the tower fell. The tower was undergoing routine maintenance at the time. The crew doing the work are safe and unharmed. We are grateful for the patience and support of the landowners whose property we are working on.”

Northpower spokeswoman Rachel Wansbone said close to 100,000 people were affected by the incident.

Meanwhile, Auckland energy company Vector said it may need to “ration energy” for customers in Warkworth, Wellsford, Snells Beach and Big Omaha until 9pm.

“This could result in outages for some customers in this area. This is due to a fallen Transpower transmission tower, which is causing energy supply shortages north of Auckland,” Vector said.

“While we don’t yet know if rolling outages will be necessary, or for how long, if they do occur they will be temporary, and will occur at different times to ensure that no one is without power for an extended period. We have already communicated directly with customers who may be impacted.”

Energy Minister concerned failure took out entire region

Brown said Transpower’s priority was restoring full power and working with line companies to ensure they managed the load to ensure high-priority customers who needed electricity had it.

“Obviously, there are people who are medically dependent, that’s critically important that they are looked after.”

He said Civil Defence was set up and working with councils to get to vulnerable communities.

Transpower was working through the options to restore the line, including whether they could put the original pylon back up or if a temporary pylon was needed.

“The priority is to restore the power and ultimately keep the lights on in Northland as quickly as possible.

“There will obviously be an investigation into the incident and what caused it, but the priority at the moment is making sure power is restored as quickly as possible, vulnerable people who rely on electricity are looked after, and working with the EBDs [electricity distribution businesses] around how that power will be managed as they work through restoring power.”

He said it was a concern that such an incident took out power to an entire region.

“They were working on the site at the time, there was maintenance happening at the site but there will be an investigation to understand exactly what happened.”

Northland has been without power after a Transpower tower fell south of Wellsford about 11am today.

Brown said Transpower had taken some measures, including shifting load to another pylon, to get some electricity north through the alternative pylon.

He said another power station in Northland that was out for maintenance was brought back on this afternoon to add generation.

Trustpower’s Nathan Green said additional power had come on stream tonight from Transpower NZ, which meant most people would have power restored over the next two hours.

“However, the power available is much less than we would normally have at this time of the evening. This means we need to leave the hot water off for everyone and ask that you continue to minimise your power use as much as possible.

“This ensures that as many people as possible can share in the reduced power we have available tonight.

“Transpower advises that the work required to restore supply from the fallen tower will take until at least tomorrow afternoon, so please continue to conserve as much power as possible and stay prepared for further outages during this time.”

He thanked customers for their “patience, kindness, and support”.

“Please stay safe and keep an eye on those around you who may be struggling, especially if they are vulnerable.”

Northland MP Grant McCallum said it was “devastating news” for Northland and urged people to keep in touch with their power providers and watch for updates.

McCallum was informed by Transpower that it was working to get power restored as soon as possible.

“It highlights how fragile the infrastructure in Northland is, which is something we are very focused on strengthening.

“The people of Northland have been through a lot with storms and road closures. This is the last thing they needed,” he said.

Whangārei District Council advised people to conserve water as much as possible as the water supply network was operating at a reduced capacity.

‘I’ve got an oven full of half-cooked food’

Chris De-Ath from Bocky Boo Gelato said power was restored in central Whangārei just in time to save his gelato icecreams from spoiling.

Staff packed the freezer with pillows to help the cold stay in. De-Ath said the power cut was the last thing the business needed.

The owner of Village Cafe in Kerikeri, Abby Semb said she had to close the cafe after she heard the power was going to be out most of the day.

“It’s frustrating. I’ve got an oven full of half-cooked food for a catering job. As long as we get power later today, I won’t lose all my stock.”

Cafe Jerusalem is also having to turn away customers. Front of house staffer Michaela Surovcova said staff were waiting for the manager and cleaning to keep busy.

Jarred Meehan from Churchill Butchers and his team were serving customers in the dark with mobile eftpos.

Jarred Meehan from Churchill Butchers and his team were serving customers in the dark with mobile eftpos.

He was waiting on a generator thinking: “We’ll be up and running again”.

However, they could not use the machines with the generator.

“So some of the boys will be going home.”

Yini Lan from Kerikeri Lunchbox Bakery said customers were transferring money online or writing their names and phone numbers in her book and returning later to pay.

At that stage she had filled three pages of IOUs.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi has been advising Northlanders that widespread power outages were affecting traffic signals on both local roads and state highways.

“This is how I deal with it. I’m definitely affected but I’ve been here quite long so I know the majority of customers. It’s better to feed them,” Lan said.

At Whangārei Cafe Hello Pickle, workers Fynlee Connew and Ash Tadman were doing a deep clean with head torches on, as well as serving customers.

Owner Jess Loftus said customers were paying with cash or bank transfer, while some regulars had been given a loan to pay back the next time they come in.

Loftus said she was trying to make the most of a situation she can’t control.

Hello Pickle workers Fynlee Connew and Ash Tadman were doing a deep-clean with head torches on. Photo / Michael Cunningham

”It’s cool to see the community banding together. I could see people helping the elderly cross the street … everyone is driving so courteously and so aware, imagine if we operated like this all the time,” she said.

Loftus said the loss of trade was “a bit stressful” but the cafe is well supported by regular customers.

”We felt that through Cyclone Gabrielle and Covid, through times of unexpected spot problems, it’s nice to see everyone coming together.”

BNZ Whangārei staff help people get across the road at the busy Bank St, Rust Ave, Cameron St intersection, including Brad Williams from Kensington. BNZ’s Gina Chapman said the bank’s vaults have automatically locked and staff came out to talk to customers when they noticed pedestrians struggling to cross the road. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Whangārei District Council said the major power outage affected many public services, including traffic lights, which had shut down.

“If you are driving, use normal give-way rules at intersections. There is also extra congestion, please take your time and be safe.”

Mayor Vince Cocurullo commented on his social media post that the 220 tower was out and Transpower was currently restoring power through the 110 power supply system.

Meanwhile, the power outage threw today’s Whangārei District Council meeting into darkness.

Transpower is assessing how long it will take to return that circuit to service.

The council’s 11am community development committee meeting, chaired by Councillor Carol Peters, had just kicked off when the council chambers were thrown into darkness as lights, air conditioning and Te Iwitahi’s council chamber’s electronic sound system cut out.

The meeting continued, considering community funding grants allocation, community safety and more.

Councillor Ken Couper ended the meeting with his words: “Guide us all safely home, especially with the power out.”

Kaipara Mayor Craig Jepson said the region was vulnerable when these events happened.

“People are really concerned about what’s happening. I think we’re pretty hard-bitten when things like this happen that we don’t expect.”

He hoped there wouldn’t be too much impact on businesses in the district and those in rural areas.

”Let’s hope the cowsheds can continue operating this afternoon,” he said.

Paihia shops were mostly closed, including the isite information centre. Photo / Jenny Ling

Far North Mayor Moko Tepania said the widespread outage showed the importance of “ensuring our connectivity is resilient”.

“Hopefully we can get that transmission line is back up and join us back up to the main grid. It’s not good enough for our entire region to be dependent on a single line.

“Especially when our power prices in this region are the highest in the country.”

Tepania advised residents to conserve water and limit flushing the toilet, as many were on tank water. He also suggested having torches and candles handy in case the outage lasts into the night.

“Hopefully that won’t be required.”

Some early childhood centres and schools across Northland were asking students to be picked up as the outage continues to impact toilet use and phone lines.

Whangārei Girls’ High School had asked parents to collect their children and busses are being organised early. Open Spaces Preschool in Whangārei had been forced to close as it could not maintain a suitable temperature in the centre and there was no running water.

Parents and caregivers should check school and ECE Facebook pages, and websites or call if they were unsure of closures.

Staff at Pak’nSave Whangārei could not comment on the outage but when the Advocate visited, it looked like business as usual with a few trolleys filled up with drinking water.

Animates Whangārei acting manager Ashaia Muriwai with dog Athena. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Animates staff were also left in the darkness after a power outage.

Animates Whangārei staff first experienced the outage at 11am as acting manager Ashaia Muriwai was serving a customer.

As they went to pay, the power went out, she said.

Cash-only sales were continuing, however, customers were not allowed in the store due to health and safety. Staff were in good spirits when the Advocate visited, thanks to the company of Muriwai’s dog, Athena.

Generators had kicked in at Whangārei, Dargaville, Bay of Islands and Kaitāia Hospitals, Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora Te Tai Tokerau spokeswoman Liz Inch said.