Vandalism to machinery ahead of a day-long power cut for maintenance on Kaitaia's sole high-voltage line caused delays in restoring power and ''extreme frustration'' for Top Energy staff.
The outage was scheduled to last from 8am to 5pm on Sunday and affected North Hokianga, Kaitaia, Aupouri Peninsula and Doubtless Bay. Back-up diesel generators, however, kept the power on in central Kaitaia and much of Doubtless Bay.
Top Energy chief executive Russell Shaw said the discovery of damage to a digger and a ute at the company's Fairburn site, east of Kaitaia, was a bad start for crews who had tough deadlines to meet.
"We know the inconvenience outages cause. It is extremely frustrating to have our work impeded by such a senseless act," he said.