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Energy Minister Simeon Brown has ordered the Electricity Authority to review a pylon collapse that cause a power outage across Northland.
Speaking at a media press conference in Whangārei, Brown said he had visited the site of the fallen pylon and said “getting answers to what happened is a top priority”.
The fallen pylon cut power to 100,000 properties on Thursday.
“It is completely unacceptable what happened yesterday, a pylon should not just fall down, that is something that should not happen in New Zealand outside of a major type of event.
“We need to get to the bottom of what happened, understand the facts. There needs to be accountability for that and appropriate actions to follow those reviews.”
“It should not happen and we need to make sure it does not happen again.”
Energy Minister Simeon Brown
Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Brown said Transpower had also started their own internal investigation and the government were currently considering whether to stand up an independent inquiry.
Transpower’s executive general manager for grid delivery Mark Ryall confirmed the pylon collapse was an “isolated incident” and they were “not concerned about another tower”.
Brown said if “all things going well” the temporary structure being brought in to fully restore power into Northland would be running by Saturday evening.
“Fortunately the site is very close to the road which makes it a lot easier to access, get equipment onto, which I think makes [Transpower’s] job a lot easier.”
Ryall said at the moment their 110 kilovolt circuit was still distributing power into Northland and it was asking locals to conserve electricity during peak times.
“We just apologise for the inconvenience of people losing power yesterday and for anyone who still has issues today. It is unacceptable, a pylon shouldn’t just fall down,” he said.
Transpower wanted to learn from this experience as well, he said.
“We will be honest and open with that review and we want to learn as well because we don’t want this to happen.
“We pride ourselves in the performance of our grid.”
