UPDATED: Vector ordered to cut power to St Heliers
Many homes and businesses in the Auckland suburb of St Heliers were without power today and more may face blackouts if power usage doesn’t drop.
Transpower is struggling to supply power after yesterday’s transformer fault left the Penrose substation with only one operational transformer.
Vector spokeswoman Philippa White says Transpower had told lines operator Vector that they had to keep usage below a certain level to keep the pressure off the network.
“The savings haven’t been sufficient,” she says.
As a result Vector cut power to the mainly residential St Heliers for no longer than two hours to keep demand below the necessary level, she says.
She says if demand did not slow then there would be further power cuts in the area.
“They would be for no more than two hours and would be rolling around the area,” she says.
The fault at the Penrose substation just after 1pm yesterday caused a power outage that affected 74,000 businesses and homes in the eastern suburbs of Auckland.
Transpower spokeswoman Adele Fitzpatrick says power had gone out again just before midday.
“Demand has not dropped as we had hope and we really need people to turn things off,” she explains.
Carol Mills, of Sanders in St Heliers, says the power at her shop was out for only 10 minutes and by midday they were back up and operational again.
The original power outage, which was caused by a fault at the transformer, has limited the number of transformers operating at Penrose.
"The faulty transformer was one of three. One transformer was out due to routine maintenance. The other two were handling the load until an electrical fault in one caused the third transformer to trip," Ms Fitzpatrick says
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Comments and questions11
Vector spokeswoman Philippa White says if demand did not slow then there would be further power cuts in the Auckland Area. During a recession, power shortage is surprising. What will happen to our power supply when the econamy is stating to boom later?
It's not the energy available to supply - there's shiploads of water in surplus in the South Island hydro... it's the ability to efficiently supply this to consumers. In this case, Transpower can't maintain the connection between us, the consumer and the power generators - not a shortage more like inability to distribute it.
And a bit like food aid distribution in some banana republic... or is that too extreme an analogy?
i understand they have rolling blackouts in zimbabwe too,but we are not a 3rd world country yet,instead of vector paying their pr/bribe/dividend,they could invest in infrastructure.After all, last years blackout was for want of a $5 d-shackle.
If Transpower is unable to distribute our plentiful power supply, may be the relevant authorities need to ensure that we do not have the same problem later especially during our World Rugby Championship Games in 2011.
Being blessed last time Auckland was subjected to the Power Industries remarkable business acumen (entire CBD crippled, portable generators in the street), I was in England thank god and my business in NZ was situated a few hundred meters outside the GOT NO POWER zone so we survived.
But here we go again, no backup, crappy transformers, excuses, power bills that have demonstrably escalated way beyond cost of living, and now rolling cuts.
So rolling bill payments seem in order, every second month until the message gets through.
Next thing Vector and Mercury will be saying they need to put the price of power up so they can invest in infrastructure. Its about time their minds were brought into focus, perhaps rolling cuts in Directors Fees would help.
All these price hikes with the excuse of needing to invest more in infrastructure yet all we see is big payouts to shareholders, is it about time price increases actually went on infrastructure?
Duh! Think you ought to read the facts again... not Vector's infrastructure... it's Transpower's infrastructure.
You know the ones who own the National Grid? Vector are the blokes at the consumer end not getting anything from Transpower and having to institute rolling blackouts @ Transpower's behest.
Anyout payout to shareholders relates to dividends paid to Crown or lack of investment at that end... maybe a few less bureaucrats on the Lower NI and we might find the bucks to fund this.
It all well and good until some nimby moans because that bit of vital infrastructure is going to be put somewhere close to their house.
With the changes to the RMA, maybe we will finally see some infrastructure investment happening, since the money's not all going to disappear into legal fees.
To bastardise a well-known quote
"in a democracy, people get the sort of government "management" they deserve"
All the recent governments have been legitimate, we have no-one to blame but ourselves...
Is anybody saying why the transformer failed? Didn't it have protection equipment to prevent "transformer failure"? A major reason for Substation failures is surely poor or inadequate maintenance due to the "just in time maintenance" philosophy, which almost always results in "just too late" breakdown.
Need to fix the "system"? Bring back the Govt ownership and NZED principle. Train some proper maintenance workers, and allow them time to do their job properly
It has been known for sometime that the power distribution system in your region is what technically known as knackered .
It is in the same condition as your stormwater , roading, and sewer systems.
Don't know about the telephone /internet system , but I understand that some of your exchanges have 1950s gear in them.
When everyone seems to be concerned about some Rugby Football event in 2011, your important infrastructures have been neglected for years.
Nearly as bad a state as in the USA.
Jimmy Fixit above is aware at least.
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