Westpower power outages

0800 768 241, 24 hours a day. Westpower owns and maintains the lines, so they are who to call in a power cut, not the company that bills you. If you can see a downed line, sparking, or anything on fire, call 111 first and stay at least 10 metres away. Treat every fallen line as live.

Westpower runs the West Coast (Westpower) network reporting region. Of the places we list, that includes Greymouth, Hokitika and Runanga. If your power bill names Westpower as the lines company, this is your network.

Yes — https://www.westpower.co.nz/outages. It shows current faults, the properties affected and an estimated restoration time once crews have assessed the damage. This page does not show live outages. For what is out right now and when power is due back, use the distributor's own outage map or call their faults line.

Because they are different businesses doing different jobs. Your power company buys electricity and bills you for it; the lines company owns the poles, wires and transformers it arrives through. A fault is a network problem, so Westpower is who dispatches a crew. Calling your retailer usually just adds a step, because they pass the report to Westpower anyway.

No. Lines companies are regional monopolies, which is why they are price-regulated rather than competitive. Everyone on the Westpower network pays Westpower's lines charges no matter which power company they are with. What you can choose is the retailer, and with it the energy and service part of the bill, which is the part that varies.