Northland power outage, pylon collapse: Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown wants Transpower accountability

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says heads must roll at Transpower after the grid provider revealed the collapse of a transmission tower and the resulting power outage in Northland was due to too many nuts on the pylon being removed.

Transpower chief executive Alison Andrew today confirmed a maintenance crew had removed the nuts of three legs of the pylon last Thursday. She said the proper maintenance procedures were not followed and called the improper work “unprecedented and inconceivable”.

Brown said the removal of the nuts was the cause of the collapse: “This is obviously what happened, particularly as the base plates on the lifted side show no distortion. I am making this assessment well before any official investigation, which will just confirm exactly what I am saying.”

Following Andrew’s confirmation, Brown said: “Transpower has now confirmed everything I have already said. Too many bolts were removed at once”.

He called for accountability from Transpower’s leadership team.

“Failures like this need to see some heads roll, or the consequences - which are felt by many - will not be fully understood, nor will the lessons be learned.

“Many will be quick to blame the contract workers, but the buck stops with the leadership team.

“Transpower has a fleet of well-paid managers who oversee the maintenance contracts, but often with too many management layers between the board and the workers on site,” he said.

Almost 100,000 people were left without power when the tower collapsed.

Auckland mayor Wayne Brown wants accountability among Transpower's leadership team. Photo / Michael Craig

Andrew said Transpower had appointed an external party to conduct a formal investigation into the fall.

She said she was grateful no one was hurt in the incident and it was a “dangerous scene” when the tower fell.

“It is really important to us to understand what happened,” she said when asked about speculation in the hours after the incident.

Mornez Green, managing director of Omexom, the company completing maintenance on the power, said the incident was “unprecedented”.

“We removed too many nuts from the bolts that resulted in the tower falling over.

“Omexom promptly worked to restore the power.

The downed Transpower pylon that knocked power out to much of Northland. Photo / Michael Craig

“I can assure you we will be open and transparent in the investigation.”

Green said the competence of the people on site will be assessed during the investigation.

Energy Minister Simeon Brown, meanwhile, promised there would be a full review into the “unacceptable” outage.

On top of Transpower’s investigation, Brown said he would be asking the Electricity Authority to review the incident and he was considering a Government review.

Authority chief executive Sarah Gillies has confirmed it will be undertaking a review after the minister’s statement.

“Electricity consumers need to have confidence their electricity supply is as reliable as possible. Our review will seek that assurance on behalf of consumers,” Gillies said.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.