Partial Power Restoration in New Zealand's Northernmost Region

Power has been partially restored to homes in New Zealand's Te Tai Tokerau region after a transmission tower collapse. State-owned Transpower aims for a full fix by Friday, urging residents to conserve electricity. The outage affected roughly 200,000 people, with Northpower and Top Energy NZ cutting power for water heating.

Power has been partially restored to thousands of homes in New Zealand's northernmost region after a transmission tower collapsed on Thursday, although a full fix will require at least another day, state-owned power transmitter Transpower said.

The outage, which impacted large parts of New Zealand's Te Tai Tokerau region and its roughly 200,000 residents, occurred at 11 a.m. (2300 GMT, Wednesday) after heavy rain knocked down a transmission tower. Transpower said some power had been restored by Thursday evening but it would take until at least Friday afternoon to bring power levels back to normal.

Until then, it asked customers to minimise electricity usage so there was enough power for all residents. Energy providers Northpower and Top Energy NZ said they would cut power for water heating to conserve electricity.

The Whangarei District Council said it had restored power to all but two sets of traffic lights.