Aurora Energy is making a capital investment of $49 million in the Queenstown Lakes network over the next five years, as part of its $563 million investment over five years to upgrade the electricity network in Otago.
Aurora says the work under way at present will improve electricity supply to Arrowtown, Dalefield and Coronet Peak, and in the process also increase the capacity for growth in this area.
Queenstown has experienced three power cuts recently, sparking skifield bosses to question why that is happening and pointing out their safety concerns for skifield users getting trapped on chairlifts.
Aurora said one of the electricity lines that took power from the grid exit point at Frankton had tripped three times recently: on June 22, July 1 and July 6.
This affected the same 2324 customers in Dalefield, Arthurs Point and Arrowtown.
It said on all occasions there was an unusual fault and tripping.
The company said that from time to time there were intermittent faults on different parts of the network that could be difficult to resolve, and this was an example of this.
It started investigating why this happened after the first fault, including foot patrols of the lines, and was looking into this as a matter of urgency.
Aurora has been given approval by the Commerce Commission for additional funding, which has allowed it to increase its work programme.
