How often does your electricity fail?

Forums › Off topic › How often does your electricity fail?

DrCheese

258 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

Topic # 113987 4-Feb-2013 02:21
Just got woken up at 2am by my uninterruptible power supply beeping furiously, meaning yet another electricity failure. I've always believed that the internet is supposed to be more flakey than the electricity supply, but apparently the reverse is true in this part of Dunedin. Just out of curiosity, how often do folks in NZ get a power blackout? DrCheese

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

367 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 755292 4-Feb-2013 02:37
I'd say on average I see 2-4 a year, That is here in Auckland and typically small area outages.

Ramjet007

148 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 755295 4-Feb-2013 05:43
Might see 1 a year in AKL (normally some fool runs into a power poll) and a couple of brownouts.

RunningMan

1391 posts

Uber Geek

Reply # 755298 4-Feb-2013 06:13
There were a few over night in Auckland too. http://vector.co.nz/outages/current-outages

timmmay

3883 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 755319 4-Feb-2013 07:47
Wellington suburbs, I guess a 2-4 per year, but maybe none some years. There's the occasional one when everyone turns their heat pumps on, plus short random ones. Asus eee pad transformer iPod 2G Windows 7 PC Lots and lots of Nikon camera gear

Gooseybhai

659 posts

Ultimate Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 755328 4-Feb-2013 08:20
Substation blow outs, heavy winds, car crashes, contractors digging up cables and earthquakes..... and the power still seems very reliable down here in ChCh !

TinyTim

701 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Reply # 755331 4-Feb-2013 08:24
Can't remember the last time we had a power cut. Many years. Inner suburbs, Wellington.

Hammerer

241 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 755335 4-Feb-2013 08:32
TinyTim: Can't remember the last time we had a power cut. Ditto. Perhaps two in the last five years: lightening strike on substation + planned maintenance to replace local transformer. Edit: Am in Lower Hutt. The electrosaurs are dying out! • 56kg HP Color LaserJet behemoth - will it ever die? • 61kg HP Netserver brontosaurus - Extinct 2010 • 32kg Compaq Proliant goliath - Extinct 2010 • 31kg 21" IBM CRT gargantua - Extinct 2010

Dairyxox

191 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 755372 4-Feb-2013 09:42
I'm in Tauranga and the power normally goes out about 3 times a year on average. Last year might have been like 4-5 times. Normally all the outages happen over a couple of weeks.

xpd

Minecraft n00b
5346 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 755391 4-Feb-2013 09:56
Think Ive only had 1 outage (very short) in the 18 months Ive been on the Whangaparaoa Peninisula... XPD / @DemiseNZ / Gavin Website CPU : Intel E5300 GFX: Geforce 9800GTX/+ RAM: 3GB DDR2 A+ - MCDST - MCTS CCNA Arriving soon.

old3eyes

4178 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 755402 4-Feb-2013 10:04
Can't remember the last time in Pt Chev in Auckland (2.5 years) but when I was in Papatoetoe every time it rained and someone took out the power pole on the corner which was about 5 times a year until the council fixed the road then it never happened again... Regards, Old3eyes

geek4me

544 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 755403 4-Feb-2013 10:04
From none to 1 or 2 a year in Upper Hutt usually car crashes are the cause. Once someone came around at night and turned off our power and our neighbours power at the outside meter boxes our UPS woke us up. Power company came out - not too happy, but did not charge for the call out. Before they came out, they told me to check the inside fuse box which was all fine, they said nothing about checking the outside box! Lesson learned - check the outside box if others in the street still have power. Not sure if one is allowed to modify the meter box door to add a lock.

Behodar

3012 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

Reply # 755405 4-Feb-2013 10:05
Like the others, I'd say 2-3 times per year (Whakatane). The Internet is definitely more flaky; for example I had no connection this morning (although it was back up by about 7:45).

robjg63

886 posts

Ultimate Geek

Reply # 755420 4-Feb-2013 10:23
Seem to get more outages in central Auckland than we probably should. Probably goes out 2 or 3 times a year. I think in part due to the old overhead wiring. Had a couple of momentary flickers on Saturday evening - Mt Eden area - around 10pm and sometime later. Knocked the PCs over and made the lights flash. A few years ago (5?) there was a bit of bad weather - not too dramatic - anyway - heard what sounded like a wheelie bin bouncing down the street - wind wasnt that bad - and it went on for a while. I went out and had a look up and down the street and saw a bunch of people looking at a very large transformer up a pole around 10 houses away. It was smoking and banging like fireworks. It was then that I noticed that the insulation on the wires down the street was smoking and dripping off the wiring. I very quickly raced back inside and switched EVERYTHING off. All the appliances etc were actually running quite happily and nothing got damaged. Dont know how that one didnt cause a lot of problems. Also had issues with poles breaking and wires stretching. Wish they would underground our power. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it it himself - A. H. Weiler

nickb800

1183 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 755424 4-Feb-2013 10:27
I think it makes a big difference whether the network is overhead or underground in your area - common causes like car vs pole, tree vs pole only affect overground networks. Much of Christchurch is underground (except the Transpower pylons which are pretty resilient) so I've found the supply to be super reliable, only going out for the major earthquakes and once for planned maintenance in the 4 years I've been here. Contrast that to Kapiti, which is mostly overhead, and we would see several outages per year mostly due to storms

DrCheese

258 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 755464 4-Feb-2013 11:32
Just checked with my retailer electricity supplier, PowerShop. There have been 20 outages in the last three years in my part of Dunedin, so about 6-7 per year. Contrast this with my internet service provider where I"m guessing there have been at least four outages in the last year, mostly due to planned upgrades or faults upstream. DrCheese

1 | 2 | 3 | 4