Power box explosion destroys family’s appliances
A young Tauranga family has been left more than $10,000 out of pocket after a power box outside their house exploded and caught fire, destroying household appliances.
Maria Molisi and her family heard loud noises and saw “bright flashes of light” outside their Coopers Rd house in Gate Pa last Thursday around 9pm.
“We went outside and found out that the power box in front of our house on the street was on fire,” she told the Herald.
Lines company Powerco has since confirmed that it’s investigating reports a vehicle crashed into a mailbox, hitting a pillar box in Tauranga last Thursday.
A spokesperson told the Herald the box exploded, cutting power to 40 properties on Coopers Rd, including the Molisis.
That explosion left the family without power for days.
“It went out that night and didn’t come back on for at least 24 hours after that,” she says.
“And even over the weekend it’s been on and off and we were without power again for 24 hours from Sunday to Monday night.”
Maria is 36 weeks pregnant, and says the stress has been unbearable.
“It’s not been easy at all. Trying to get things organised at the moment. My husband works fulltime and I work part-time and study part-time from home,” she says. “I was hoping to kind of get ahead and be ready for when the baby comes but this has kind of stopped everything.”
She reckons more than $10,000 worth of appliances have been damaged and she has had to throw out food from the fridge and freezer. “The washing machine is not working which is not ideal with a young child and lots of washing to do. I had to carry everything to a laundromat with my toddler.
“Also the printer wasn’t working. I was asked to print the claim form for the insurance and I went to use the printer and that’s not working. Just quite a few things making it difficult. And the heat pump isn’t working so the house has been really cold.”
She’s been trying to get answers all week from Genesis and Powerco, who she says keep blaming each other.
It wasn’t until Tuesday that Genesis put the family up in a motel for two nights while it liaised with Powerco over what had happened.
“At least it’s something but what we really want is for everything to get fixed in our house so we can be at home,” she said.
Powerco’s network operations manager Phil Marsh said the family was the only one with ongoing issues and he apologised for the distress caused. He said an electrical inspector would visit the Molisis to check there were no ongoing issues.