Transpower crews prepare to install a temporary pylon tower on 21 June, 2024, after another fell and cut power to thousands of Northland properties.
Photo: Transpower

Transpower chief executive Alison Andrew says a power pylon that fell last Thursday was due to contractors removing too many nuts from bolts connecting the tower to a base plate.

This occurred during maintenance on the transmission tower and was not to procedure and it was “unprecedented and unacceptable”, she said.

Andrew says an initial investigation has confirmed crew working at the tower did not follow the necessary procedure for working at the scene.

While Transpower was grateful no one was hurt, the failure to follow procedure had a significant impact on the people of Northland, she said.

An external party would conduct an independent investigation.

“We are committed to learning from this event and implementing any additional controls.”

Andrew said the investigation needed to be fair and it was “far too early” to talk about discipline. The contracting crew doing the work on Thursday when the pylon fell was stood down immediately.

Transpower executive general manager grid delivery Mark Ryall said any work that was more than “removing one bolt” needed an engineering review. He said he was “confident” in the reviews so far.

Ryall said an audit done recently was successful and showed no issues.

WorkSafe is also investigating the incident.

A tower, or pylon, which serves Northland, collapsed on Thursday, cutting power to 100,000 properties.

The state-owned country-wide power transmission entity Transpower promised a full investigation, and the government said it was “completely unacceptable”.

More to come…