Power has been restored to homes in Wellington and Christchurch after cuts to some 8000 customers.
Power was cut to parts of eastern Christchurch for just over an hour this morning after a failure at the Dallington substation, Orion control centre manager Dayle McDrury said.
Some 7000 customers were affected by cuts after the failure at 7.06am, with power restored by 8.15am.
"When the power went out this morning, our teams immediately worked their way along the length of the new high voltage lines into Dallington, checking for any damage,'' Mr McDrury said.
"No damage to the new overhead lines was found, and we believe the most likely cause of the outage was that a small animal, bird, or other object came in contact with the lines, causing the power supply to `trip out'.''
Mr McDrury said the overhead lines, installed after the quakes, generally withstood earthquakes better and could be repaired much faster than underground cables.
Meanwhile, power was restored to 1000 customers in Wellington last night after a weather-related cut about 6.45pm.
Wellington Electricity spokesman Drew Douglas said the cuts affected customers in Upper Hutt, Karori, Miramar and Wainuiomata.
Power was restored throughout the evening.
