Power surge hits homes

Unison lines company says it will do the right thing, after a power surge in Taupo¯ wiped out thousands of dollars worth of household electronics,

The surge swept through household circuits on January 18, destroying heat pumps, dishwashers and electric garage doors.

Unison relationships manager Danny Gough said the surge was unrelated to a systems upgrade being done on the street at the time.

‘‘It appeared there was an intermittent fault [further down the line], which we hadn’t picked up.

‘‘It wasn’t until we went through with a more intrusive inspection – which we wouldn’t have normally done – that we discovered a loose terminal,’’ he said.

Hilltop resident Richard Wickens said at least six neighbours suffered damage from the surge.

‘‘One neighbour we spoke to estimates $24,000 worth of damage,’’ he said.

‘‘One of our elderly neighbours found the plug to his television lying on the floor – the surge blew it out of the socket.’’

Wickens said his washing machine, heat pump and electric garage doors were all fried – meaning around $5000 in damage.

Gough said Unison would be offering compensation to affected residents who got in touch.

‘‘We’ll deal with them personally through their insurers or through them directly and [any recompense] will be determined on a case-by-case basis,’’ he said.

Residents would need to provide damage reports from electricians or manufacturers to demonstrate they had suffered loss because of the surge event, he said.

Gough said the Hastings-based company maintains thousands of kilometres of electricity cabling.

‘‘Unfortunately we can’t prevent unforeseen equipment failure, which can happen from time to time, but we do our best to mitigate it as a prudent operator.’’

The installation of a ‘‘ring main switch’’ – the purpose of Thursday’s electricity work – would help minimise the effect of any future event, he said.

‘‘Its purpose is to allow more contingency,’’ he said.

‘‘If we do have an event – like a power surge, or a tree hits the line – the ring main allows us to minimise the number of customers affected because we can isolate it at that point.’’

Wickens said multi-boards with in-built surge protectors saved his television and other devices from damage.

He encouraged others to invest in surge protection devices.

‘‘I bought a couple yesterday and they’re not cheap – but they do protect your electronics.’’

Harley Stanisic from JA Russell electrical supplies said surge protection devices can be fitted to household fuseboards to help protect wired-in devices like heat pumps.

‘‘They’re called surge arresters. They’re about the size of standard circuit breakers and cost between $100 and $200,’’ he said.

‘‘Just contact your sparky and they’ll be able to install it for you.’’

Gough encouraged residents of Birch St and nearby streets who suffered any equipment damage on January 18 to contact Unison as soon as possible.