Aurora Energy’s "Big Day Out" power outage from Wednesday is over and 1500 Upper Clutha customers have been reconnected to the network.
Contractors and Aurora staff this week completed a major renewal project on a section of the electricity network supplying Albert Town, Camp Hill, Hawea Flat, Lake Hawea and Makarora.
Aurora Energy chief executive Richard Fletcher said yesterday the team wanted to thank customers for their patience and understanding.
Mr Fletcher acknowledged that being without power for a whole day was a major inconvenience but teams had worked across several locations at the same time, significantly reducing the overall number of planned outages.
Contractors had done some work prior to the outage to ensure Hawea Flat School and Albert Town’s commercial area had power supplies.
Aurora Energy also powered up the Lake Hawea Community Centre and a Makarora cafe for the duration of the outage, so locals could access toilets, coffee and tea, hot water, fridges for storage and medicine, Wi-Fi, and charging options for phones/devices.
Multiple contractors were involved.
Delta chief executive Mike Costelloe said the co-ordinated effort enabled an efficient and solution-focused approach.
Works included the replacement of 29 power poles and 21 cross arms. Maintenance was done on the Camp Hill and Wanaka zone substations and equipment for Hawea. New switch gear was installed at the Longview subdivision.
