Heavy snow in Canterbury

Monday, 12 June 2006

Heavy snow in Canterbury has caused widespread damage to the Orion network, particularly in rural areas.

Most of the damage has been caused by trees, with branches breaking across power lines damaging conductors and in some case damaging poles.

The snow has been wet and heavy and the lack of any wind has meant that snow has built up on trees rather than being dispersed by the wind.

Line crews have worked through the day making repairs, but will be withdrawn at dusk.

A skeleton crew will work through the night to make downed lines safe, but will not make any significant repairs.

Orion CEO, Roger Sutton, said that "at various times today we have had up to 8,000 sites without power - or about half our rural customers. But by nightfall tonight we hope to have restored power to 5,000 of those 8,000 including all the main rural townships. Of the 3,000 customers who will be without power overnight, we are planning to have 90% of them back on by dark tomorrow night. However, there are some remote areas of the region where we are yet to even see the damage and it could be up to a week before we can get power back on to them. We appreciate that for customers without power it has been a difficult day, and we apologise and thank them for their patience".

For more information, contact:

Roger Sutton
Chief Executive Officer
03-363-9846
Mobile 027 4333 632