The strong wind which sailed through the South and up through the east coast on October 23 caused widespread damage which ran into tens of millions of dollars.
Worst hit were the badly damaged power lines and, at one stage, every sub-station in Southland was out of action, a statement from the Electricity Networks Aotearoa said.
But a co-ordinated response from lines companies — from the far north to the deep south — highlighted the electricity distribution industry’s commitment to helping communities during one of the year’s most damaging weather events, it said.
In the region PowerNet serves — Southland and South Otago — about 50,000 customers lost power.
The numbers dropped quickly as restoration began, but some households remained without electricity for two weeks.
As local crews got to work, support came from all around.
Field staff, equipment and specialist expertise flew in from across New Zealand — from TOP Energy in the far north to neighbouring contracting service providers, such as Unison Contracting who work on the Aurora Energy network.
Electricity Networks Aotearoa chief executive Tracey Kai said the October storms clearly demonstrated the strength of the sector.
"When a major storm hits, lines companies don’t think in geographic boundaries. They think about what communities need and how they can support colleagues to restore power quickly and safely," she said.
In Southland and Otago, where states of emergency were declared, PowerNet activated its emergency response quickly and received offers of support from lines companies throughout the country.
Crews rolled in within days, and those without power were reconnected much faster than any one network could manage alone.
PowerNet chief executive Paul Blue said welcoming additional crews was straightforward.
PowerNet staff had worked with crews from outside the province before.
While the storm was unusually severe, the cause of many outages was unsurprising. PowerNet estimated about 95% of its outages — affecting more than 23,000 customers — were caused by falling trees.
It was the same in North Canterbury.
MainPower lost 8000 connections, about 90% of outages caused by trees and vegetation.
Much of this damage came from "fall zone" trees — which are those outside the areas where lines companies have legal authority to trim or remove them.
ENA and lines companies have been calling for changes to outdated tree legislation for more than a decade. Ms Kai said the storm lines companies come together to get power restored as quickly as possible.
"But outdated tree laws make it harder to manage the risks — which ultimately makes power less reliable and more expensive for customers."
The big wind
• Hit Southland at 11.45am on October 23.
• By 5pm all 35 zone substations in Southland were out; 17 of 18 zone substations in South Otago were out.
• Power teams increased from 25 to 70 in five days.
• Customers on PowerNet’s networks: 78,000.
• Estimated customers without power by the end of each day: Day 1, 25,000; Day 3, 15,000; Day 7, 4000; Day 11, 1600. — Allied Media
