Some in dark over power upgrade

HARD WORK: While some Solway residents were a little disgruntled to lose power on Sunday, others praised the Tenix contractors who spent all day replacing power poles on High St.

One of Masterton's longest streets now has new power poles - but not without a few disruptions.

Powerco has upgraded part of its electricity network in Masterton to improve the security of supply in the area.

The $335,000 project, involving hundreds of contractors, involved replacing poles and a conductor on the Chapel St Substation circuit, which feeds a large area of the town.

Part of the project included replacing power poles and cross arms on High St on Sunday.

Several Masterton people reported power outages, with some Solway people mentioning losing power several times throughout the day - first around 10.30am until 3.30pm, and again at around 6pm and throughout the night.

One resident, who had tried to contact Powerco about the outages, texted the Times-Age in the afternoon saying, "Communication is dead at Powerco, like our lines all day Sunday on High St. We never got a letter - how about advising these things on the radio?"

Other residents said they did not receive notification of the outages. "Wish we would have been told in advance of the maintenance work," said one Facebook commenter.

Powerco Acting Network Operations Manager Dean Stevenson said around 140 Masterton customers were affected by Sunday's planned power cut, which lasted around nine hours.

He said a planned power cut was necessary to ensure field crews could undertake the upgrade work safely.

"We realise any disruption to supply is an inconvenience to customers," said Mr Stevenson. "This work was important to ensure customers have a reliable supply."

He said Powerco notified electricity retailers with details of the scheduled outage. "It is normal for retailers to pass this information on to their customers."

In amongst the discontent over the outages, several Facebook users praised the Tenix contractors for their hard work restoring the lines.

"I hope every single one of those men enjoy their extra pay for being out there on a Sunday," said Alix Cooper.