Winter Power Taskforce
§ Winter Power Taskforce
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§ WEEKEND
UPDATE
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§ Winter Power Taskforce co-ordinator
Patrick Strange today welcomed rain and an increase in
electricity savings over the last couple of days “We’ve had
our first good news in weeks,” said Dr Strange. “rRain in
some of our hydro catchments over the past few days has
lifted inflows to hydro lakes and seen hydro storage levels
stabilise, although this will only be temporary without
significant more rain .
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§ “The latest long range
forecast from NIWA, released today,includes the promising
signs of warmer winter temperatures.
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§ “Although
the forecasters are still forecasting dry weather during
May, the long term forecast suggests we may have a chance of
avoiding power cuts later in the winter if we can meet our
target of reducing electricity consumption by 10 per
cent.”
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§ He stressed the situation remains very
serious and that achieving power savings was
vital.
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§ Dr Strange said there were signs that more
people were beginning to save power. Demand figures until
midnight Friday (May 2) showed that conservation efforts had
reduced electricity consumption by 3.6 per cent. This was a
material improvement on the 3.2 per cent savings level of
the day before (Thursday).
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§ “A nationwide
advertising campaign begins on television this evening, with
a range of well-known New Zealanders urging us all to do our
bit to save power.
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§ “The campaign will provide
constant reminders to consumers on how they can reduce
consumption and we expect this effort to help us drive
greater savings levels,” he said.
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§ Latest figures
are:
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§ National demand for the 24 hours ended
midnight Friday (May 2) was 98.5 GWh, compared with 99.9 GWh
average demand for the same day last year. Conservation
efforts by householders and small to medium businesses
totalled an estimated 3.6 per cent.
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National hydro
storage levels at midnight Saturday (May 3) were 1,944 GWh –
only 63 per cent of average but up from the 1,892 GWh level
recorded at midnight on Thursday (May
1).