Leaning power pole rotten

A LEANING power pole on Hillside Rd which was taken out at the weekend was rotten, Aurora Energy now admits. Originally the company told the Otago Daily Times the pole was leaning due to heavy rainfall saturating the ground last weekend.

Power company spokesman Gary Johnson said once the old pole was removed, ‘‘belowground rot was clearly visible’’ and the situation was exacerbated by the wet ground.

‘‘Immediate action was taken to stabilise the pole that was then removed and replaced with a new concrete pole. We chose to replace the pole on the weekend to minimise disruption to nearby businesses.’’

Mr Johnson said the old pole was not redtagged because at its last inspection, in 2011, it was assessed as ‘‘serviceable’’.

‘‘Aurora Energy has increased the rate of pole inspections to ensure all poles have been inspected within a fiveyearly cycle within the next 15 months with an uptodate condition assessment.’’

At October 4, the power company had a backlog of about 1027 redtagged poles awaiting replacement. Half of the poles in the network have not been tested since 2012. The company has 55,000 poles across its network, and 94,000 crossarms.

The company’s asset base was largely put in in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, so many assets were due for replacement due to age.

On Saturday power to several households in Playfair St, Caversham, also went out briefly, due to a transformer malfunction.

Aurora Energy supplies electricity to more than 90,000 homes, farms and businesses in Dunedin, Central Otago and Queenstown Lakes.