Power has been restored to more than 2000 homes after a transformer in Auckland exploded and cut electricity to thousands of homes and businesses this morning.
The Fire Service sent five fire engines and a specialised foam unit to the 11-kilovolt transformer, which caught fire in Remuera around 6.30am.
Some 2400 customers in surrounding streets were plunged into darkness as a spectacular blaze severed the critical power link.
By mid-morning power had been restored to most homes and businesses caught by the cut, but 171 households were still without power and would not be reconnected until lunchtime.
The Edmund Hillary Retirement Village, which has more than 700 residents, confirmed it was affected by the power cut, but it had moved to back-up generators, installed after major outages in 2014.
"We have double checked on residents and all are fine," said Ryman Healthcare spokesman David King.
The generators supplied power to essential services, including keeping residents warm and lifts running, King said.
Remura Golf Course said power was out and a road leading to the club was closed in a Facebook update.
There were also reports the entire suburb of Stonefields lost power.
"They are drastically under-reporting the number of homes affected. The entire stonefields suburb is without power and that's 2200 homes at least," Chris Brittan said earlier.
Residents in affected streets said their morning routines were interrupted by the outage.
"This morning had to go to work without my coffee and shower in the dark," said Mark Smith.
