Unison reconnects more Hawke’s Bay housholds despite weather challenges
Despite continuing wet weather in Hawke’s Bay, Unison says it has restored power to more households in urban and rural communities in the region over the weekend.
As of today, Unison has restored power to the majority of customers in the immediate Napier and Hastings area except for areas still affected by flooding.
On Saturday customers were connected and power restored in Clayton Rd, Clifton, Kaimate Rd, Bayview, and parts of Waiohiki Rd and Korokipo Rd.
“We are now working to restore power to residential parts of Awatoto and Meanee, which were areas badly affected by flooding. Customers in areas or properties affected by flood damage should read our advice about the process to safely reconnect which is outlined on our website,” Unison said in a statement.
Unison’s Incident Controller, Jason Larkin, says: “While the adverse weather affecting the region over the weekend has slowed progress, our crews are working tirelessly to progress this essential work despite the challenging conditions.”
“We are throwing all our resources at this and using all options available to restore power safely, as quickly as possible.”
Unison says its rural restoration plans are in full swing, following meetings with communities from Waihau, Puketapu, Patoka, Puketitiri, and Te Haroto to understand their needs and explore solutions to restore power as quickly as possible.
In consultation with the isolated Patoka community, Unison says it has developed a plan restore customers using a generator.
Larkin says: “Our teams made great headway developing and advancing plans to restore power to our hard-hit rural communities this week. Unfortunately, the speed we can progress those plans in some of those areas is heavily impacted by a lack of road access and ongoing adverse weather.”
“At Patoka, our next challenge is getting our line crews, trucks, and materials in to undertake repairs and to keep the generator supplied with fuel. Despite the lack of access, our aim is to begin restoring power to customers in the area from Monday.”
As soon as access and weather allow, Unison will meet with more rural communities including Glengarry, Te Pohue, Tutira and Tangoio, to discuss plans to restore power quickly and safely to those areas, as well as returning to Patoka and other communities to provide updates on restoration progress.
Plans include installing generation in these settlements which are hubs for the surrounding communities. We are working through the details of access, refuelling as well as essential network repairs necessary to connect generation but hope to have generators running there by midweek.
For cut-off Tutira, Unison is working to bring its cyclone-damaged substation back into service and repair the main line that supplies the substation. It estimates this work will take around one week to complete, however they’re assessing alternative options including generation to supply power to parts of the network in and around Tutira in the next few days.
“Conventional access routes to some of these areas have been absolutely destroyed by the cyclone and that, combined with extensive damage across our rural network, means there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for these communities,” says Larkin.
“We’re committed to working with these communities and considering all options including generation. All options are dependent on access and trees must be cleared, lines inspected and repaired before restoring power. The safety of work crews and the public is paramount.”
“As of this morning, there were still 2,537 customers without power in Hawke’s Bay, mostly in outlying rural areas.”
