Power cut threats dim as hydro lake levels climb

Lake levels are rising and consumers are unplugging, making threatened power cuts a distant prospect.

Heavy rain has pushed hydro lake storage to 73 per cent of average, a level not seen for more than two months and better than at the same time in 2001.

The South Island's main storage lake, Pukaki, is up 10cm at 524.26m, which puts it in the middle of its normal range.

Tekapo is just a metre shy of the top of its normal range.

Similarly, Te Anau has moved out of the low end of its range. Manapouri is also in its "main range".

Wakatipu and Wanaka are barely under their average levels and Hawea is within its normal range.

By mid-week, there was 2164GW hours of stored generation capacity, better than the 2109GW hours at the same time in 2001.

Rain effects hydrologist Dave Stewart said today the hydro storage of 2164GW hours meant there was no power crisis.

A crisis would start to bite when storage dipped under 1000GW hours, he said.

If rain storms continued to arrive every eight to 10 days, as they had been, the problem would go away, he said.

Despite the good news, the head of the Government's Winter Power Taskforce, Patrick Strange, would not be drawn on what improvement in lake levels was required before savings were no longer necessary.

Lakes were at about the same level in 2001 but a crisis developed because flows into the lakes dried up during the peak demand months of June and July, he said.

Since then the country's electricity demand had grown and there was less thermal generation, so the danger was greater.

Niwa's outlook to the end of July forecasts average rainfall for both the southern lakes and Lake Taupo catchments.

A milder winter is also forecast.

Dr Strange said savings to date had pushed back the prospect of more severe measures, such as longer hot water heating cuts.

The national savings effort has climbed to 7.8 per cent.

The Government has asked domestic consumers and businesses to save 10 per cent.

Meanwhile power company TrustPower is threatening to withhold information it provides to newspapers, including advice on saving power, unless it is paid for the service.

The threat is seen by the newspaper industry as a tit-for-tat measure to counter copyright charges being imposed by the Print Media Copyright Agency, an offshoot of the Newspaper Publishers' Association.

- NZPA