Transpower may have to compensate households

Transpower could be ordered to pay compensation to tens of thousands of households who had their power unnecessarily cut off on one of lastwinter’s coldest nights. However, it appears the total amount of any compensation would be capped at $200,000. The Electricity Authority yesterday confirmed its viewthat the national grid operator could be blamed for power cuts on August 9 that left 34,000 homeswithout electricity for a few hours. The authority said ‘‘co-ordination and communication failures’’ at Transpower resulted in power users being disconnected during what was a night of tight electricity supply, adding to criticisms of Transpower made in earlier reports.