Businesses were hit hard when a felled tree cut power to about 4100 properties in Dunedin yesterday.
The large tree fell on to high-voltage overhead lines, cutting power to areas in Burnside, Caversham, Concord, Abbotsford, Green Island, Sunnyvale, Fairfield, Waldronville and Ocean View about noon. It was restored to all customers by 3pm.
Green Island Dental Centre dentist Dr Gerard Prendergast said a patient was in the chair when power went out.
‘‘We had a patient halfway through a filling. I [had to get] her back again to get it done.''
Dr Prendergast said he was not worried about the loss of potential income, but rather the inconvenience, and said it would be helpful in such situations if there was a clearer indication of when power was expected to be restored.
The newly-built Fresh Choice supermarket had to close for about two hours while a generator was brought in.
Owner John Moyle believed the outage would cost him about $13,000 - $10,000 in lost sales and $3000 for the generator.
‘‘It's the fourth time it's happened in the last three months.''Green Island Post and Paper owner Peter Ryder said he had lost ‘‘heaps'' in sales, as the power went out right on lunchtime.
Delta marketing and communications manager Gary Johnson apologised for the inconvenience.
Permanent repairs to the damaged overhead power lines were expected to be completed today.
The outage occurred after a tree fell on a line in a commercial forestry block.
It was too early to say whether Delta would seek to recover costs from the company responsible.
Mr Johnson said Delta staff ‘‘worked very hard'' to get power back on quickly.
