Aurora outage attracts criticism from local

A POOLBURN father has dismissed Aurora Energy’s claim it is ‘‘keeping the lights on’’ during Covid19 as ‘‘rubbish’’ as parents try to homeschool until schools open next week at Level 2.

Steve Goodlass said the company had shown how much it ‘‘really cared’’ by scheduling a network maintenance power cut affecting 89 customers in the rural Central Otago community for today.

The outage, which the company says will last from 9am to 4pm, coincided with the time parents were trying to homeschool their children amid ongoing lockdown restrictions at Level 3, Mr Goodlass said.

He and his wife had four children at home.

It cemented a shaky track record for the energy provider in the area, he said.

‘‘Not only has their network been left to moulder, it seems we will be paying a huge amount in lines charges in the future because of the Commerce Commission.’’

Aurora Energy was fined almost $5 million by the commission in March for excessive power cuts on the network stemming from its inadequate maintenance.

‘‘Power in the Omakau and Ida Valley area is flaky, [and] many poles on our roads are tagged and pinned, so are dangerous,’’ Mr Goodlass said.

‘‘If you look at their planned outages, it seems that if they’re going to affect a lot of people in Dunedin they do the work at night, but it’s OK to make it just that bit harder for the farming community.’’

Aurora Energy general manager customer and engagement Sian Sutton said the work in Poolburn was essential and would fix a low span of conductor that had been identified prior to lockdown.

‘‘This is important safety critical maintenance work to bring the conductor back to a compliance level.

‘‘We understand the inconvenience that comes with a power outage apologise to all customers who are affected, particularly those who are working from home or home schooling during this time.’’

Crews would make every effort to complete the work safely and minimise disruption, she said.