Plants hurting as power saved

Plants are shivering too as the electricity crisis bites.

South Islanders trying to save power in their workplaces are inadvertently making their shrubs sick.

Rentokil Tropical Plants business development manager Joan Buchanan said that plants all over the South Island had been put under stress by colder, darker offices.

"People forget that plants are a living thing. I guess their wellbeing isn't something that office workers are going to think of, but they are dealing with a living product.

"The plants just sit there and shiver and they can't sustain the foliage they have."

Rentokil, a plant-hire company, had been sending replacement plants south from Christchurch to Dunedin and Southland.

Southland topped the country with power savings of 9.1 per cent last week.

"Normally, if you bring plants into a room where you are, or where there is going to be light and heat, it will make a difference," Ms Buchanan said.

- NZPA