After outage, mayor seeks plan from Aurora

UNDERFIRE Aurora Energy is investigating the root cause of faults on the Queenstown Lakes district’s electricity network now emergency work to restore power to 4700 homes is complete.

Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult phoned Aurora chief executive Richard Fletcher on Tuesday asking for a plan to make the ski resort’s network more resilient to snow.

The company confirmed to the Otago Daily Times it would provide Mr Boult analysis and details of what improvements could be made for the future.

‘‘Early indications from the field are that most faults were related to trees falling on overhead lines,’’ an Aurora spokesman said.

Aurora has an ‘‘active programme of vegetation management’’ on the network to reduce the risk of tree damage.

‘‘. . . but most of the trees that cause disruptions are outside of our regulated cutting zone and we have no authority to manage them.

‘‘For example, trees that over hang power lines or are in the fall zone of power lines are not covered by current regulations.’’

He said the sector had been calling for reform to improve management of trees near lines.

Tripouts on Monday morning, which cut power to downtown Queenstown and other suburbs, happened on highvoltage transmission lines owned and managed by Transpower, that run from Cromwell to Frankton.

Transpower advised Aurora the suspected cause was snow built up on the lines releasing, causing them to clash.

Peak demand was not a factor, the spokesman said.

Power was restored to the final 11 properties in Paradise and Kinloch, both near Glenorchy, on Wednesday night following Monday morning’s snowstorm.

Line crews worked in challenging conditions to reconnect properties in Queenstown, Frankton, Fernhill, Arrowtown, Dalefield and Glenorchy over the three days and two nights.

Mr Boult thanked the crews for their hard work. He said the aftermath of the snowstorm on the network was unacceptable.

‘‘I’ve placed a call yesterday to the CEO of Aurora to say ‘we do get snow and we don’t expect half the district to be without power’.

‘‘I have asked for an explanation and a plan of how they intend to put things right.

‘‘I’m no expert in these matters but I’ve asked them for a proposal and I’ll look at that, perhaps ask for some advice, and we’ll take it from there.’’

Glenorchy was also cut off by road after heavy snowladen branches fell from trees at Bob’s Cove.

The Commerce Commission announced on Monday it was taking Aurora Energy to the High Court, alleging the Dunedin City Councilowned company had breached regulated quality standards by underinvesting in infrastructure such as poles.

Aurora supplies electricity to nearly 90,000 customers across Queenstown Lakes, Central Otago and Dunedin.

The spokesman said: ‘‘At this stage there is nothing to suggest that the condition of . . . power poles was a factor in weatherrelated power outages.’’

NZSki head Paul Anderson said power was restored to skifield Coronet Peak relatively quickly, but The Remarkables skifield was out for about 24 hours.

‘‘You would have to ask the question — we’re used to snowfalls down to valley level two, three times in a year, and our expectation is the network providers are investing in a network that’s resilient enough to withstand a normal snow event, which is all we’ve had.

‘‘We’ve got no contractual remedies as a business but it does cost us a lot of money when we’re down.’’