Fire at Transpower's Penrose substation

There has been a fire at Transpower's Penrose substation in the early hours of this morning Vector advises that because of a fire early this morning at the Penrose substation Vector shares with Transpower, a number of Auckland suburbs are without power.

At this stage the cause is still unknown.

However, the initial investigation has revealed substantial damage to a number of cables feeding some eastern, central and southern suburbs. Vector mobilised extra resources when news came through of the fire early this morning and are at now at to work repairing these damaged cable. It's expected that the crews will work through the night to effect these repairs, but this will take some time.

Every cable and every piece of switchgear must be thoroughly checked before being re-livened, so an initial restore to some areas may take some time.

The areas that we estimate could be restored this afternoon are; Newmarket, Glen Innes, Rockfield, Onehunga and parts of Epsom.

Our best estimate at this early stage is that the suburbs that are likely to be out for up to 24-48 hours are; St Johns, Remuera, Sylvia Park and Mt Wellington. If all goes to plan, there may be some restoration in the peripheral areas of these suburbs that could take place earlier, if the crews can back feed, although that is difficult to establish at this stage. We want to manage expectations so that if people need to make alternative arrangements, they can do so.

Medically dependent customers or vulnerable customers in these areas should make alternative arrangements.

We would like to thank customers for their patience and we will update this information regularly throughout the day.

© Scoop Media