Outages apology: Aurora

AURORA Energy has issued a mea culpa in the form of a letter to Clyde residents following a series of unplanned power outages in the Central Otago town.

The letter, dated May 6, apologises for the outages in the Clyde area and outlines what the lines company is doing to investigate.

‘‘After each unplanned outage incident, before we can switch the power back on, our field crews complete line safety patrols to ensure there are no ongoing safety issues, such as a line being down on the ground.’’

The letter went on to state line patrols did not identify the source of the widespread outage on May 1 but it is suspected vegetation was to blame.

Inspections of the lines started last Thursday and would continue through the weekend, the letter said.

‘‘Until the precise source of these faults is located and we can find a permanent solution to fix it, there is a chance the intermittent fault and associated unplanned outage may reoccur.’’

The company had signalled to the Clyde community it had undertaken a major ‘‘network replacement and enhancement’’ programme consisting of six separate projects (two already completed) over four years.

The cost of that was $20 million and would provide additional security of supply to the area, the letter said.

❛ Until the precise source of these faults is located and we can find a permanent solution to fix it, there is a chance the intermittent fault and associated unplanned outage may reoccur