Orion continues to manage power supply

16 February 2017 at 4:09 pm

Released at 4.00pm

Orion continues to closely monitor Christchurch’s power supply and respond to any issues arising as a result of the fires continuing in the Port Hills.

Currently around 128 customers remain without power in the Port Hills area.

Power supply has been maintained to the rest of the city throughout the day.

Lines in the fire affected area in the Port Hills remain off grid, and power continues to be rerouted, including through Orion’s new underground, Northern Loop cable.Orion asks residents and businesses to conserve power where ever possible, to reduce the load on the network while it is in contingency mode.

It is possible that there will be further outages until the fires are fully extinguished.  Orion CEO Rob Jamieson said he would like to thank residents and businesses for their understanding.

“The fires continue to present a risk to power supply, and the situation remains fragile. If people could economise on their power usage even a little, it would help ease the situation.”

Orion urges residents in the Port Hills area to take particular care around electricity at this time.

For updates on power outages around the city visit our outages page or call 03 363 9898 for more information.