Power outage causes huge losses
The empty classrooms say it all.
Last Thursday’s power outage caused major disruptions to the entire Far North, forcing dozens of businesses and schools to close.
Those in the hospitality industry were hit hard, with most closing up shop. Brett Hammond from the Village Cafe in Kerikeri says they would still have to pay their four staff.
‘‘There’s a loss of earning capacity, it’s affecting the services we can supply, it’s affecting our income.
‘‘It’s frustrating because it impacts the whole economics of a small business in a small town.’’
Food at Wharepuke owners Rachael Goldfinch and Colin Ashton had to cancel a Christmas function for the RDA.
The couple tried three hire companies to hire a generator but, after finding they had all been snapped up, had to fork out $1300 for a new one.
They will be making an insurance claim to cover lost earnings, including having to pay staff who were sent home, and loss of customers. ’’It’s a huge loss,’’ Goldfinch says.
Power went out at 2.53am and was restored to most towns by 3pm. Ahipara and some other areas were still experiencing problems at 9pm.
Transpower spokeswoman Rebecca Wilson says crews found a number of glass insulators had been damaged.
‘‘We suspect, but cannot con- firm, the cause of this damage to be malicious with firearm bullet casings found at the base of the towers where damage has occurred.’’
The Far North District Council called on residents connected to water and sewerage to conserve water and to not flush their toilets.
Deputy mayor Tania McInnes says the outage would have a serious affect on businesses. A cruise ship was in port at Paihia and the outage would certainly impact on services there, she says.
Northland District Health Board says hospitals were running on generators. Spokeswoman Liz Inch says people on home-based dialysis were ‘‘trained to have back up plans and contingencies’’.
Steve De Ruiter from REAL says the lack of coffee was the biggest problem - but the good thing about the power being out was that people were talking to each other again.