Media statement 20 Feb 11am
 
As of 11am, around 2000 homes and businesses remain without power, following widespread and significant damage from Cyclone Gabrielle.
 
This number excludes customers in the West Coast beaches of Piha, Bethells, and Muriwai, as in some cases there is still significant damage that will take considerable time to repair. We have responded to a request from Auckland Emergency Management to provide power where ever possible in these areas, and will continue to make repairs if feasible, however much of the remaining work is extremely complex and challenging.
 
We’ve brought more crews in from outside our network area, where spare capacity was available at other electricity distribution businesses and taking into account the needs of other parts of the North Island. These additional crews will mean we can get through more work faster, and will also help us manage fatigue and health and safety concerns amongst all crews.
 
Some customers are concerned because we’ve said we’re working in their area but they haven’t seen us. We understand and want to assure them we are working to get their power back on. In some cases, the site needing repair work may be physically distant from the affected area the customer is in, for example at the other end of a long power line. Also, not all our contractors will be displaying a Vector logo but will be carrying identification.
 
Information about restoration timelines, at each zone of our network, is available on our website: vector.co.nz/personal/outages/storm-event. This is updated as new information comes in, and may be updated multiple times each day. 
 
We know it’s incredibly difficult for people still without power. Vector has a highly motivated team whose single focus is getting the power back on for people safely and as quickly as we can. We will not rest until this is complete and will continue to work with Auckland Emergency Management and Civil Defence regarding welfare issues.
 
To report an outage or check an address for an outage go to: Vector.co.nz/outages
 
Notes to editors on estimated restoration times provided by Vector:

• Estimated restoration times (ETR) are when we expect to restore power to the last customer by, unless there are further issues such as undiscovered damage, or if new faults occur as a result of the damage. Power will be restored progressively to customers up until the date provided, not all at once, so some may be restored before the ETR.  
• We will update customers with changes to the estimated restoration times, including if we think work may take longer. We will also update the zone map on our website through the day as soon as new information becomes available. 
• We’re following our storm restoration process, which focuses on the main lines (high voltage), where we can restore the greatest number of people most quickly. It does not include smaller lines (lower voltage) to individual streets and properties. What this means is that the outage centre on our website may show an area’s power issue is resolved but if they do not have power – it's a lower voltage issue. As we complete more main line repair work, we will deploy crews to work on smaller line work.