8 December 2016, 8am

Power outage in Upper North Island - UPDATE 1

Transpower would like to advise that they are currently experiencing a power outage on their network in the Upper North Island.

Our helicopter and foot patrol crews have managed to now reach the site where we know the fault is located. Several areas of the transmission towers and lines have already been patrolled. The location of the fault has been further narrowed to five remaining transmission towers and spans (where the wires hang between the towers).

Due to weather, we have had to ground our helicopter crews. The remaining five towers and spans – which traverse around 3km – will be inspected by foot. These towers are in steep, rugged terrain.

Those residents and businesses in the areas affected should expect to be without power until further notice. We are working as quickly as possible to identify the fault so that we can restore power to the area.

A further update will be provided at 9am.

We apologise for the inconvenience this has caused.

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