Fault cuts peninsula power

About 12,500 households on the Coromandel Peninsula lost power for up to five hours last night.

A fault in Powerco's network cut electricity to Tairua, Whitianga and the Coromandel township about 3.50pm. Power was not fully restored until 8.40pm.

An insulator failed on a 66kV line about four kilometres into the Tairua Range from Kopu, and the problem was exacerbated by the fact that Powerco's other 66kV feed to the peninsula was undergoing reconductoring work to get it through the winter.

"It was a very long night," said Powerco network operations manager Phil Marsh. "We apologise for inconvenience, but we had everybody out there we could get."

Powerco commissioned a helicopter to find the fault and also pressed all available crews into getting the "out of service" transmission line back operating. It is thought the insulator failure was caused by wind or a tree branch hitting the line.

"We may now stop our maintenance work on the other line until we have done a full patrol," he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News