Pot Shots Cause Power Outages, Public Safety Risk

Pot Shots Cause Power Outages, Public Safety Risk

Tuesday 26 February 2014 - It appears ‘pot shots’ at power poles were the cause of a recent power outage in a rural part of Havelock North last week.

In determining the cause of the outage, Unison Faultman Gerald Mulinder found a section of 11kV cable with ‘shot’ embedded in it, after noticing the possum guard on the pole was pock-marked.

Unison Chief Executive Officer, Ken Sutherland, said damaging power equipment created a risk to public safety, and urged the public to call the Police and Unison immediately should they witness a person damaging equipment.

“The safety of the public is paramount to Unison, and we are greatly concerned by situations such as these were damage occurs due to wilful or negligent behaviour.”

“Damaging any form of power equipment creates a risk to the public. In this case, damaging the insulation around the cable could have caused ‘arcing’, and could also result in power ‘leakage’ were electricity is conducted down the pole, livening the ground in the immediate area.”

Unison used mobile generators to supply power to the affected customers while the section of cable was replaced.

The matter was referred to the Police for further investigation.

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