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Wild weather in late December led to over 400 outages across Franklin, making it a busy time for Counties Energy crews.
Between December 29 and January 1, a prolonged and severe weather system swept through the region, causing widespread disruption across the network.
Counties Energy says field teams worked in difficult conditions, repairing more than 400 outages — many involving fallen trees, broken poles and downed lines — to restore power to over 3200 customers. By January 1, the vast majority of customers had their power restored.
Counties Energy chief customer and operations officer Dale Carline thanked customers for their support during the event.
“Our crews worked through extremely tough conditions, and the patience and kindness shown by the community made a real difference,” he says.
“We’re very grateful to our customers for looking out for one another while we focused on getting the lights back on during what was a difficult time for many with disruption to their plans with whānau and friends.”
“I would like to also thank our crews and support teams who gave up their holiday plans to ensure our community’s power was restored as quickly and safely as possible.”
During severe weather events, Counties Energy follows a structured restoration process to manage the network safely and efficiently. Crews first focus on isolating damaged or downed lines and securing electrical equipment. Restoration then prioritises essential services and outages affecting the largest number of customers, before progressing to smaller groups and individual properties.
Vegetation remains a major contributor to network outages, with trees responsible for approximately 70 per cent of storm-related faults.
Proactive tree maintenance is crucial, Carline says. For safety reasons, any work within four metres of power lines must only be carried out by qualified professionals. More information on tree safety and regulations is available at www.countiesenergy.co.nz/trees.
Carline says customers can stay informed through the Counties Energy Outage Hub at app.countiesenergy.co.nz. Medically dependent customers are reminded to ensure their emergency plans are in place and ready to be activated if required.
