Fairlie, Albury, Cave, Kimbell and surrounding areas.

**Final update: All power has been restored.

Thanks to Transpower, our crews and controllers for their efforts to get everyone back on, and even earlier than we expected 💪

Thank you once again to our customers for your understanding!

**Update as at 1pm from Transpower: The team have replaced the fuses damaged by the lightning and are now carrying out testing.
They are also taking the time to inspect other equipment to ensure everything is in good working order. A big thanks to the crew doing the mahi today, and a massive thanks to everyone for their patience so far. We're on the back half now and will provide an update closer to the work wrapping up.

**Update as at 10:30am

Mōrena Everyone,

Here is some additional information about the process today that allows Transpower to do this urgent work.

• 9-10am: Alpine gradually disconnects the network from Transpower, affecting customers at different times as this occurs.
• 10-2pm (estimated): Transpower carries out the urgent repairs. Customers have no power during this stage.
• 2-3pm: All going to plan, Alpine gradually reconnects to Transpower. Customers will be reconnected over the hour as this occurs.
  If there are any updates or changes to this plan, we will post them here and you can also follow Transpower NZ Thank you.

Kia ora Fairlie, Albury, Cave, Kimbell and surrounds

Today, Thursday 18 December, power will be off between 9am – 3pm while Transpower repairs equipment damaged by lightning during recent severe weather.

The urgency of the work means we haven’t been able to give more notice or arrange generation.  We know this is a tough time with school holidays, Christmas around the corner and this community has experienced multiple outages recently. We’re truly sorry for the interruption and inconvenience.

This work is critical to keep the network safe and prevent longer outages later. Mother Nature always has the final say, but these repairs help make the equipment stronger, and ready for future storms.

• Those affected should have received an email from us on Wednesday afternoon. We did our best to reach everyone.
• If you are medically dependent, please contact your retailer.
• Updates will be posted on Facebook throughout the day.
• Please prepare now for a day without power. Helpful tips here: https://www.alpineenergy.co.nz/.../outage-preparedness

Thank you for your patience and understanding while crews work hard to keep the network safe and reliable, for all of us.

For more information about the work being carried out, please contact communications@transpower.co.nz.

Q&A

Why are we having an outage again?

• The lightning storm that hit on Tuesday unfortunately struck and damaged our equipment at Albury substation
• It's critical we act quick to carry out repair work to ensure our network can operate safely and provide a reliable supply of electricity to all of you.
• This work must be done during the day, as it is too dangerous for our crews to operate at night.

What was damaged and what are you doing about it?

• This damaged some of the fuses in our equipment, which our crews will be replacing with new ones.
• We will also use this time to inspecting other equipment to ensure it's all working and in the best state possible to handle dangers like lightning.
• Mother nature will always have the final say, but we are doing everything to make sure our equipment is as ready as it can be for storms that might be thrown its way.

This is the third outage in four months, why is it so regular?

• We know there is never a good time to be without power and apologise in advance for the inconvenience.
• Lightning strikes hitting our equipment is not common, let alone striking the same substation twice in three months.
• However, the purpose of the equipment that was damaged is to protect larger gear from being damaged, so it did its job.
• It’s critical we respond quickly to replace these fuses so they’re able to perform their function again if needed.
• If we don’t act quickly, the substation is exposed to much larger risks that could lead to longer outages.
• We are extremely appreciative of everyone affected for their patience as we do this work.

Why don’t we have backup generation this time?

• We’ve stepped in quickly to do this work to reduce the risk of larger outages.
• This has meant the work and consequent outage is short notice, which hasn’t provided the local lines company, Alpine Energy, with enough time to organise the backup generator.
• We are sorry for the inconvenience this causes, and our crews will be working as quickly as they can to finish this work.
• It’s important we do this work now to reduce the risk of further and longer outages if we left the repairs to a later date.