High winds often cause power outages for my area

Forums › Off topic › High winds often cause power outages for my area - can anything be done?

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#1299656 7-May-2015 09:01

dwl: I assume you are served via Wellington Electricity. If so, talk to them (915 6100), saying you are concerned about the frequency of the cuts and ask whether there is a known reason or whether they are all different isolated events (assuming they don't direct you to your retailer). It doesn't need to be a complaint and they don't want the power to fail either. There might be reasons like trees where they have powers to trim but neighbours might be making that process difficult where some local discussion might also help.

I'll give them a call, thanks.

Geektastic

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#1299759 7-May-2015 11:16

We went through a period of multiple short power interruptions (lasted at least a year) where we'd get interruptions of between 5 and 30 seconds (mostly below 15 seconds) several times a day most days of the week.

It drove me potty and I ended up with a UPS as it kept just crashing my office Mac.

The line company inspected and claimed it was the gum trees on our 840m road frontage (so many trees) that were touching the wires.

They removed the trees (only their contractor can safely do so because of the shock risk etc) et voilà! Absolutely no improvement whatsoever!!

However, whatever was actually causing it must have been found and rectified eventually (many months later) as it no longer happens.

DarthKermit

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#1299762 7-May-2015 11:24

Are there any plans to put underground power lines in your street? I think that's realistically the only way to combat high wind issue, which is always going to be a problem in Wellington.

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#1299764 7-May-2015 11:28

I used to live in Ngaio and one winter night I drove to BP J Ville to fill up the gas bottle. The line of bottles was horrendous, easily a dozen bottles in front of mine to be filled. Making small talk I said, "Everyone's got the same idea as me" and the attendant says, "yeah, because Johnsonville is a windy, cold, damp shi* hole".

I think it's time to move :)

timmmay

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#1299771 7-May-2015 11:45

DarthKermit: Are there any plans to put underground power lines in your street? I think that's realistically the only way to combat high wind issue, which is always going to be a problem in Wellington.

Undergrounding my street won't help, power goes out to a significant fraction of the suburb. It's probably a main line somewhere that needs to be put underground first.

MileHighKiwi: I used to live in Ngaio and one winter night I drove to BP J Ville to fill up the gas bottle. The line of bottles was horrendous, easily a dozen bottles in front of mine to be filled. Making small talk I said, "Everyone's got the same idea as me" and the attendant says, "yeah, because Johnsonville is a windy, cold, damp shi* hole".

I think it's time to move :)

My house is warm and dry. I think the problem is it's an old suburb, houses weren't built well and people haven't done basics like ground sheets to prevent rising damp and insulation to keep the houses warm. When I bought my house it was cold and damp, but ground sheet, ceiling, wall and under floor insulation, some double glazing, ventilation system and two heat pumps have made it great. Even in the middle of winter if it's 20 degrees at night it's still 16-18 in the morning - not as good as a new house but not bad for a 100 year old house.

Using a gas bottle heats the place but also adds water to the air. It's counterproductive if gas is burned inside.

MileHighKiwi

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#1299774 7-May-2015 11:54

timmmay:
My house is warm and dry. I think the problem is it's an old suburb, houses weren't built well and people haven't done basics like ground sheets to prevent rising damp and insulation to keep the houses warm. When I bought my house it was cold and damp, but ground sheet, ceiling, wall and under floor insulation, some double glazing, ventilation system and two heat pumps have made it great. Even in the middle of winter if it's 20 degrees at night it's still 16-18 in the morning - not as good as a new house but not bad for a 100 year old house.

Using a gas bottle heats the place but also adds water to the air. It's counterproductive if gas is burned inside.

Definitely pays to invest in insulation, proper heating etc...we haven't used a gas bottle since we had the rental in Ngaio (6 years ago). We own our own home now and have done most of the things you have. Our place is a 1950's weatherboard house. You've gota be comfortable at home!

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raytaylor

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#1300223 7-May-2015 21:54

Sideface: not a cheap and nasty Dick Smith toy,

You and I both know dick smith dont sell anything fancier than an overpriced belkin "surge protector"

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MadEngineer

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#1300295 7-May-2015 23:09

Who could he approach to try and push for underground cabling? Many cities have done this, Palmerston North completed it maybe 15/20 years ago. I think at home we've only had one brief power cut in 5 years, when I was at work.

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Zippity

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#1300302 7-May-2015 23:38

You could move to an area with underground services (such as Broadmeadows) which doesn't have the ugly "aerial pollution" as does Johnsonville and Khandallah.

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#1300312 8-May-2015 00:31

If i remember right, the wellington powerlines are owned by a private company.

Where as here in hawkes bay, and many other parts of the country, they are owned by a local community trust - and therefore they dont place profit first. They are able to spend more money on "undergrounding" rather than pure profit for investors.

I doubt you will get anywhere unless you can claim the power cuts are affecting other infrastructure or health / emergency services in the area.

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#1300313 8-May-2015 00:35

Interestingly, their website about-us page says 66% of their lines are underground to provide resiliance against the wind in the region.

And wikipedia says

This level of network performance means that average consumer typically experiences an outage lasting a little over an hour about once every two years. However, Wellington is subject to severe storm events and high wind gusts that can cause extensive interruptions for some consumers.

The reliability performance of the Wellington Electricity network is amongst the best of the distribution companies reporting performance to the Commerce Commission under Information Disclosure requirements.[1]

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#1300369 8-May-2015 08:30

Your problem even hit the NewstalkZB news this morning. Wellington Electricity thought they could do better at getting faults recorded in a timely manner. They are even producing an app for it seeing as you can't use your computer when the lights are out! Just make sure your mobile is charged when winds are predicted.

timmmay

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#1300441 8-May-2015 09:28

Good that they're onto it. I do keep my mobile charged, and I have a massive battery used for portable studio lighting that has a USB port, it could charge my phone about 10 times over, and I have two batteries for it.

MikeB4

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#1300461 8-May-2015 09:56

If you think it's bad here, the Branches we supported on the west coast South Island had terrible electricity supplies. Our Servers would go down at least weekly if not more especially Westport and Greymouth. I doubt if a day would go by with me receiving alerts for Server not contactable which invariably would be a power outage. They featured as peaks on each and every monthly report I sent upstairs.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

timmmay

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#1300522 8-May-2015 10:34

We had a three day power outage at Fox Glacier when we were there last year between Xmas and NY. Rain washed a bridge out about an hour after we went over it, it had power and comms lines underneath it! They have generators and UPS's down there.

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