Nth Dunedin power cut fixes started

AURORA has begun shortterm fixes after a series of North Dunedin power cuts it says are likely related to an electricity provider’s ‘‘hour of power’’ promotion.

In the past week, contractors have been called to several power cuts in an area around Dundas St and Harbour Tce.

They were all between 9pm and 10pm, which many flats opted for as their hour of free power as part of an Electric Kiwi promotion.

Aurora said the increased use as a result might have overloaded the system.

An Aurora spokesman said the company’s engineering team had already made small changes by ‘‘rebalancing certain circuits’’.

‘‘In simple terms, dividing users over a number of existing circuits in high saturation areas.’’

It was working well, but the company needed to monitor the situation over a longer period to see whether it would be a longterm solution.

‘‘Our engineering team are continuing to monitor and record data in order to find the best solutions to any problems experienced by higher than average use in high density areas.

‘‘No two nights are the same in terms of power usage, so this research needs to be ongoing.’’

It had started to mull ‘‘proactive steps’’ it could take to better understand and anticipate future network requirements, he said.

‘‘As electricity retailers offer new and innovative services, and more customers adopt new technologies like solar generation and battery storage, we can expect some unforeseen impacts on distribution networks, nationwide.

‘‘Sometimes, solutions can be implemented quickly but it can take a period of time to investigate, analyse, design and implement solutions on the network.’’