Electricity Authority begins s18 review into Auckland outage

Media release:
Electricity Authority begins section 18 review into Auckland power outage

7 October 2014

Minister of Energy and Resources Simon Bridges has requested, under section 18 of the Electricity Industry Act 2010, that the Electricity Authority begin a review into the Auckland power outage which started on Sunday 5 October.

The Authority will work with all parties involved to understand the cause of the outage. Chief Executive Carl Hansen says, “We need to understand the cause of the outage and whether there are any system wide issues that need to be addressed.”

The Authority’s s18 review will consider any physical, procedural or behavioural causes of the outage to ensure that any lessons learnt are acted on by the relevant organisations. Under section 46 of the Electricity Industry Act, the Authority has the ability to request any and all information needed in relation to the review.

The Minister has asked for recommendations for actions to be taken as a result of the outage and to improve the resilience of the power supplies.

The results of the s18 review will be provided to the Minister by 30 April 2015 and made publically available as soon as possible.

The Electricity Authority is an independent Crown Entity with a statutory objective to promote competition, reliable supply and the efficient operation of the electricity industry for the long-term benefit of consumers. Section 18 of the Electricity Industry Act states that ‘On written request by the Minister, the Authority must review and report on any matter relating to the electricity industry that is specified by the Minister’.

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