A large area of Taupō is without power. Photo/ Unison

Power outage in Taupō hits 16,000 customers

Author: NZ Herald ,
Publish Date: Mon, 19 Nov 2018, 10:43AM

Around 16,000 customers are without power in Taupō after a massive outage this morning.

Unison spokesman Danny Gough said Transpower had lost supply to Taupō at their Wairakei substation grid exit point.

"Unison has been advised by Transpower they are investigating an issue relating to the 33kV switchboard at their Wairakei substation. They will provide us with an update as soon as they have completed their inspection"

"We understand it's frustrating for people on a busy Monday morning. We will be working to get power back up safely soon," he said.

Earlier Gough said both transformers that supplied the main Taupō area had been tripped out.

Gough said approximately 16,000 customers were without power across the wider Taupo region.

"We have done what we can in terms of supplying off other feeders from our network. However, you can say a large swath of Taupō is without power at the moment.

"Certainly the main urban and populated areas are without power and some of the rural supply."

-More to come.