Power cut surprises businesses

Maori Hill business are irate after being left in the dark regarding a day-long power outage yesterday.

Power was cut to 217 customers between 9am and 4pm, mostly in the Maori Hill area, so contractors could replace two power poles.

Four businesses contacted yesterday said they were not informed in advance.

Copper Cafe co-owner Christine Hope-Low said the outage was "very frustrating".

She and her husband did not know about the outage until it happened, she said.

"Apparently a letter was sent in the post. However, we haven't received it. They could have called us."

A day of trade was missed and they were worried about the food in fridges and freezers, she said.

If they had known they could have "planned the day out, had a look at the options and been ready for it", she said.

Automotive Solutions Maori Hill mechanic Chris Stichman said his power was cut shortly after 9am.

"It was just lucky I didn't have a car on a hoist, as it would have been fun to get down."

He could not issue warrants without computers, and so he needed to do all work with manual jacks and other non-electric tools.

"I didn't not know anything about it. I'm a wee bit [annoyed], yeah."

If he had known he would have just not opened, he said.

Maori Hill Dairy owner Zhanlin Li said all of his frozen goods would have thawed.

"We didn't get any information from the power company. Because it was so long, they should have given us a formal notice.

"We run a business, but we have no business today."

A spokeswoman for No.7 Balmac said the restaurant only knew about the cut because a member of the public told them last week.

"It's pretty [rubbish]. Supposedly, there was a letter sent on the first of May, but we haven't got one."

The business hired a generator especially, she said.

A notice on the Aurora outages website yesterday incorrectly labelled the location as "Roslyn: Central Otago".

An Aurora Energy spokesman said it made courtesy calls to commercial and business premises and medically-dependent customers to advise them of the planned outage directly.

All of the businesses contacted yesterday said they did not receive calls.

Aurora notified power companies of the outages on April 24, he said.

"Electricity retailers are then responsible for advising their customers of any planned outage.

"The website information on today's planned outage for Roslyn was correct, except the area was put as Central Otago, rather than Dunedin. We apologise for the error and any confusion this may have caused."