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).

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