Being prepared and monitoring the risk of wildfires on the electricity network 

Climate change is bringing new challenges, that can affect your electricity supply, with an increased risk of storms, flooding, and the potential for wildfires. We are focused on providing you with reliable and affordable power as well as protecting you and your communities. This includes taking steps to manage wildfire risk. 

We’ve continued to engage with experts from New Zealand and around the world to further our understanding and develop strategies around resilience challenges, using data and advanced climate modelling. This has included working closely with National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) to model extreme dry year risk and map the associated fire risk against asset proximity and potential customer impact.
 

What are we doing to stay prepared?

- Working closely with NIWA and FENZ to conduct a dry year and associated fire zone analysis for the electricity distribution network. In addition, we have check-in meetings with NIWA and FENZ where we review the current situation and outlook for the risk levels over the next period.

-  Learning from other electricity network operators’ experiences. To help us stay prepared, we have also engaged with electricity distribution companies from Australia and the US where wildfires are more common. For example, we collaborated with Florida Power & Light Company and San Diego Gas & Electric, to help us understand and prepare for the impacts of extreme weather events.  We have learned from their experiences and incorporated this into our planning and processes.

- Ability to disable the automated network restoration process. The Vector network incorporates automated network restoration technology to restore power within milliseconds for certain types of outages, minimising the disruption for customers - for example, if lines are hit by tree branches or other vegetation. On days and in areas where wildfire risk is identified as high this automated process will be disabled and one of our crews will go out to inspect the line before the power is turned back on. This is to minimise the risk of sparks from the network inadvertently causing a wildfire. It does mean power outages will take longer than normal to restore during these high fire risk periods.

- Targeted tree trimming – particularly in areas we have identified as having an increased wildfire risk, for example where power lines run through densely forested slopes.  Tree trimming activity involves working within the current vegetation management regulations as well as within resource consent conditions, and restrictions associated with work in significant ecological areas. 

Trees on your property? Please remember, that if you have trees on your land, you are responsible for keeping them trimmed and away from power lines for the safety of you and the community. If a tree on your property has not been previously trimmed by us, then we will carry out the first cut for free. See more information about tree trimming requirements here.
 

What to expect during a period of extreme wildfire risk

Alongside FENZ and NIWA, we have identified what combination of weather and local ground conditions could lead to an extreme wildfire risk. While the chances of this remain relatively low, if it does happen, we may need to implement a public safety power shut off  temporarily to some areas to keep communities safe.  

This is not a decision we would take lightly, and it would only occur if there was an extreme risk to the safety of local residents, businesses, our crews and teams working in the field and to protect property. We will keep customers informed in these areas by sending text messages and / or emails. If in doubt, or for further information, check our outage centre: vector.co.nz/outages.

We hope the need to implement public safety power shut offs remains rare. But it’s important we plan ahead, monitor and are ready. Community safety and that of our crews will continue to drive these decisions.