By Help your neighbours
Live community map & report a power cut in your street
If neighbours are also without power, the fault is on the network, not your switchboard. The map below shows outages reported by other readers across New Zealand in real time. Use it as a first diagnostic before you call: if an active outage is already plotted near you, crews likely know about it. A short anonymous report helps others see what is happening in your suburb. It does not replace the call to your lines company.
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Report a power cut
Thanks: your report is recorded
Now make the official call to your lines company so a crew is dispatched. For a fallen line or any hazard, dial 111 first.
Life-threatening danger
Fallen power line, sparks, burning smell or smoke?
Stay back at least 8 metres from any downed line and call 111 immediately. Do not approach the line, do not move anything touching it, and keep children and pets clear. Police or Fire will isolate the area, then the lines company crew is dispatched. Lines that look dead can still be live.
Power outage near me: call your lines company first
Power outage 24/7 fault numbers: every main NZ lines company
A power outage is handled by the lines company that owns the poles and wires in your area, not by Genesis, Mercury, Contact or any other retailer. Call the lines company first: their crew is already monitoring the network in real time and can tell you whether the cut is near you, how widespread, and when supply is expected back.
Not sure which lines company covers your address? Scroll to the regional finder for all 29 distribution networks.
Understand the layers
Why you call the lines company, not your power retailer
Your electricity bill mixes two unrelated services: energy you consume (the retailer's part) and delivery through the physical network (the lines company's part). Roughly 30 to 45 per cent of your monthly bill is the lines charge, passed through by the retailer. When the lights go out, only the lines company can restore supply.
Generation
Hydro, geothermal, wind and a shrinking slice of thermal. The four big gentailers (Genesis, Contact, Mercury, Meridian) plus independents feed the national grid. Generation rarely causes household outages.
Distribution (lines)
29 lines companies own the poles, wires and transformers that bring power to your meter. They are responsible for outages, network maintenance, and emergency response. This is who you call.
Retail (your bill)
40+ retailers (Mercury, Contact, Frank, Electric Kiwi, Octopus and the rest) sell electricity to households. They have no crews and no wires. They can help with compensation claims after the fact, but they cannot turn your lights back on.
National grid (Transpower): the high-voltage backbone connecting generators to lines companies. Outages here are rare but affect whole regions (think the August 2024 Northland tower fall). Transpower works alongside, not instead of, your lines company.
What NZ actually pays out
Outage credits and appliance damage: what you can actually claim
New Zealand does not run an automatic minute-by-minute compensation scheme like the EU. Two separate channels exist, and most households use neither:
Retailer goodwill credits
Some retailers automatically credit your account after long outages: Electric Kiwi and Octopus have run $10 to $50 credits for events over 12 to 24 hours. Mercury, Genesis and Contact handle them case by case. Ask, in writing, with the date, time and duration.
Email or live chat works best: phone teams may decline at first contact.
Appliance damage claim
If a power surge on restoration kills your fridge, TV, modem or heat pump, the lines company is liable when negligence is shown (faulty equipment, poor maintenance). File a claim with photos, repair quotes and the outage timestamp. Vector, Powerco, Orion and Aurora all publish a damage claim form.
Realistic timeline: 4 to 8 weeks. Outcomes are mixed but appliances under 5 years old fare best.
| Type of outage | Advance notice | Credit likely? | Damage claim likely? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planned maintenance | 5 to 10 working days, by post or email | No | Yes if surge on re-energise |
| Unplanned fault | None | Sometimes (12 hr+ events) | Yes if equipment failure |
| Storm / declared event | Civil Defence alerts only | Sometimes, regulator pressure | Rare: storm is "force majeure" |
| Customer-side fault | N/A | No | No: covered by your insurance |
Where to escalate if you get nowhere
Utilities Disputes is the free, independent scheme that resolves complaints between consumers and electricity, gas, water or broadband providers. Use it after the lines company or retailer has given a final written answer that you disagree with. Decisions up to NZ$50,000 are binding on the provider but not on you.
Whole street out, or just your house?
Before any phone call, two 30-second checks tell you whether the problem is on the network (lines company) or inside your switchboard (your responsibility).
Check the neighbours
- · Streetlights on? The fault is in your house: check the switchboard.
- · Streetlights off too? Network outage: call the lines company.
- · Neighbours' lights on? Likely your main breaker or RCD tripped.
- · Whole block dark? Open the live map for your lines company.
Reset your switchboard
- 1. Open the meter box (usually outside, near the front door).
- 2. Find any breaker flipped to OFF: push it fully down, then up.
- 3. Press the test button on the RCD: it should snap, then reset.
- 4. If a breaker re-trips, unplug everything on that circuit and call a registered electrician.
Household playbook
The 5 steps that protect your bill and your appliances
Most Kiwis lose money on outages not because the system is broken, but because they never file the claim. The order below preserves every right you have: outage credit, damage compensation, and a paper trail if it ever turns into a Utilities Disputes case.
Note the exact time it started
Glance at your phone the moment lights go out and screenshot the lock screen, or check the time on a battery-powered clock. The lines company logs every fault by GPS and timestamp, but your own record is what backs an outage credit request.
Unplug sensitive electronics
Computers, TVs, gaming consoles, heat pumps, modems, and EV chargers. A surge on restoration is a real risk, especially after storm damage to overhead lines. Leave one light on so you know when power is back.
Call the lines company and ask for an incident number
Even if the outage is already mapped, ring the 24/7 fault line, give your address, and write down the incident number. This number is the key to claims later.
Email your retailer within 48 hours
Short, factual: address, ICP if you know it, lines company incident number, start and end time, and "Please credit my account in line with your goodwill outage policy". Most retailers respond in 5 to 10 working days.
Open a damage claim if any appliance is now dead
Direct to the lines company (not the retailer). Photos of the appliance, brand, model and age, copy of original purchase receipt where possible, and a registered electrician's report linking failure to the surge. The form sits on the lines company website.
What actually causes power cuts in New Zealand
Nationwide statistics from the Commerce Commission's DPP reset show three causes dominate Kiwi outages, and they each call for a different household response.
Weather (~45%)
High wind, lightning, snow on lines. Northland, West Coast and South Canterbury take the heaviest hits. Damage claim usually denied (force majeure), but outage credits are increasingly common.
Equipment (~30%)
Aged transformers, failed switchgear, cable insulation breakdown. The lines company carries the cost. Damage claims are most likely to succeed here.
Third party (~15%)
Trees, birds, possums, vehicles into poles, construction strikes on underground cables. Liability sits with the third party, but the lines company still restores supply first.
The remaining 10 per cent splits between planned maintenance (advised in advance), generation events from Transpower, and customer-side issues that are not network outages at all.
Two outages, two very different worlds
Planned vs unplanned outages in New Zealand: what is really happening on your line
Roughly one in ten outages in Aotearoa is planned: your lines company switches the feeder off on purpose, usually mid-morning on a weekday, to do work that cannot safely be done while the network is live. The other nine in ten are unplanned: something has broken, blown over, been hit by a vehicle or simply worn out, and a protection device has tripped automatically. The two look identical from the kitchen, but they involve different rules, different rights, and a very different response from you.
Planned
The crew turns it off on purpose
Vector, Powerco, Orion, Aurora and every other NZ lines company schedules thousands of planned shut-offs each year to replace ageing transformers, restring conductors, trim vegetation inside the growth limit zone, install smart meters, or connect new subdivisions. Live-line work exists, but it is expensive and limited: anything serious means cutting power.
Why your power is off:
- · Asset renewal: a 50-year-old transformer or pole being swapped for a new one ;
- · Vegetation management: tree pruning in the growth limit zone under the 2003 Tree Regulations ;
- · New connections: a new house, subdivision, EV charger or solar export upgrade on your street ;
- · Resilience upgrades: burying cables, replacing aged switchgear, fitting automation that lets the feeder self-heal.
What it looks like for you:
- · Notice in your letterbox, by email or SMS, 5 to 10 working days ahead ;
- · Window of 4 to 8 hours, almost always 9am to 3pm on a weekday ;
- · Crew often finishes early and re-energises before the advertised time ;
- · Can be postponed at 24 hours' notice if the weather turns or another fault takes priority.
Unplanned
Something just broke
A relay opens, a fuse blows, a section of conductor falls to the ground. The lines company's SCADA control room sees the trip within seconds, locates the affected feeder, and dispatches the closest crew. You see the lights go out and have no idea what just happened.
Why your power is off:
- · Weather: wind throwing branches into the line, lightning, salt-spray flash-over on the coast ;
- · Equipment failure: aged transformer, switchgear arc, cable insulation breakdown ;
- · Third party: tree falling from outside the growth zone, vehicle hitting a pole, digger striking an underground cable ;
- · Wildlife: possums and birds bridging phase to earth on rural pole tops.
What it looks like for you:
- · Zero notice. Lights drop, devices reboot, modem goes dark ;
- · Single fault: typically 1 to 4 hours, often inside the SAIDI envelope ;
- · Major storm event: 12 hours up to several days in the worst-hit suburbs ;
- · Real surge risk on restoration: unplug sensitive electronics immediately.
| Aspect | Planned | Unplanned |
|---|---|---|
| Share of NZ outages | ~5 to 10% | ~90 to 95% |
| Advance notice | 5 to 10 working days, by post, email or SMS | None |
| Typical duration | 2 to 8 hours, daytime | 1 to 4 h single fault; 12 h+ for storms |
| Surge risk on restoration | Low: re-energised in a controlled sequence | High after storm or equipment fault |
| Counts toward SAIDI / SAIFI? | Yes, but reported separately | Yes (major storms can be excluded) |
| Outage credit likely? | Rare: you were warned in advance | Possible for events over 12 hours |
| Appliance damage claim? | Yes if a surge happens on re-energise | Yes for equipment failure ; rare for storms |
| Who controls the timing? | Lines company plans it, weather-dependent | Nobody: the network decides |
Case study: same morning, two opposite stories
Auckland CBD vs rural Northland on a winter Tuesday
9:00am, Britomart. Vector has spent six weeks planning a transformer upgrade behind a Customs Street office block. Letters went out in late June, every affected tenant got an email reminder a week ahead, and at 9am sharp the crew isolates the circuit, swaps the 1970s transformer for a modern unit, and re-energises by 1:30pm. Cost to the network: a 4.5 hour planned outage, zero damage, zero complaints, capex tracked against Vector's regulated allowance.
9:47am, near Kaikohe. A southerly hits the Far North. A macrocarpa branch (growing on a farm boundary, outside Northpower's growth limit zone, so legally the landowner's problem) snaps and lands across a 11 kV feeder. SCADA sees the fault, the recloser tries three times to restore, fails, and 1,200 homes go dark. The Northpower crew is 40 minutes away by ute. The branch has to be cut off the line before re-energising. Supply does not come back until 2:10pm. Three customers later file damage claims after a fridge, a Sky decoder and a heat pump fail on restoration.
Same duration (~4.5 hours), completely different experience. Britomart was billed to a regulated capex envelope, scheduled around tenants, and re-energised in a controlled sequence. The Kaikohe fault was unforecastable, restored under time pressure, and produced three damage claims, several angry calls, and a small contribution to Northpower's next-year SAIDI total. One is engineering on schedule. The other is engineering under fire.
If someone at home depends on electricity for health
Ask your retailer to register the household as a Medically Dependent Consumer (MDC). It is free, governed by the Electricity Authority's Consumer Care Guidelines, and it changes everything about planned outages on your address: your lines company contacts you directly before any scheduled work, your retailer cannot disconnect you for non-payment without an extended process, and during unplanned outages your feeder is prioritised alongside hospitals and water pumping stations.
Conditions covered include home dialysis, oxygen concentrators, CPAP machines, electric wheelchairs, insulin pumps and home ventilation. A GP certificate is required, but the application form sits on every retailer's website and most process it within 5 working days.
Power outage map, live
Power outage map: live outage feeds for every NZ region
Every major lines company publishes a live power outage map, updated every 5 to 15 minutes from the SCADA system. If you searched power outage today near me map or vector power outage today, the official map below is the authoritative source for your address. If the cut is already mapped, your call adds nothing. If it is missing, the crew may not yet know: that is exactly when calling matters most.
Vector
Auckland, parts of Northland
Powerco
Taranaki, Manawatu, Wairarapa, Tauranga, Coromandel
Wellington Electricity
Wellington, Hutt, Porirua
Orion
Christchurch, central Canterbury
Aurora Energy
Dunedin, Central Otago, Queenstown
WEL Networks
Hamilton, north Waikato
Unison
Hawke's Bay, Rotorua, Taupo
Northpower
Whangarei, Kaipara, Rodney
Counties Energy
Franklin, Papakura, southern Auckland
Top Energy
Far North
Firstlight Network
Gisborne, East Cape (Eastland)
PowerNet
Southland, Otago (EIL, TPC, OtagoNet)
Power outage near me: pick your city
Power outage today by city: 15 regional guides
Power outage Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Tauranga, Hamilton, Dunedin and the rest: drill into your city's lines company, suburb-level outage hotspots, the local 24/7 fault number and how to claim back appliance damage where you live.
Auckland
Vector
Christchurch
Orion
Dunedin
Aurora
Gisborne
Firstlight
Hamilton
WEL Networks
Invercargill
PowerNet
Napier-Hastings
Unison
Nelson
Nelson Electricity
New Plymouth
Powerco
Palmerston North
Powerco
Queenstown
Aurora
Rotorua
Unison
Tauranga
Powerco
Wellington
Wellington Electricity
Whangarei
Northpower
No city matches that search.
The Selectra expert answers
Frequently asked questions about NZ power outages
Always your lines company, not your retailer. The lines company owns the poles, wires and transformers in your suburb and is the only party that can dispatch a crew. The main numbers: Vector (Auckland) 0508 832 867, Powerco (Taranaki / Manawatu / Tauranga) 0800 27 27 27, Wellington Electricity 0800 248 148, Orion (Christchurch) 0800 363 9898, Aurora (Dunedin / Queenstown) 0800 22 00 05. For a fallen line or any hazard, call 111 first.
No. Unlike the European Union, New Zealand has no automatic per-hour compensation. The Commerce Commission penalises lines companies that breach Default Price-Quality Paths (DPP) reliability targets, but those penalties flow back into the next regulatory period, not to your account. Some retailers (notably Electric Kiwi and Octopus) issue goodwill credits of NZ$10 to NZ$50 after outages over 12 hours: you have to ask in writing.
Yes, if the surge came from the network and the lines company was negligent. File a damage claim directly with Vector, Powerco, Orion, Aurora or whichever lines company covers your address. Include photos of the dead appliance, original purchase receipt, age, and ideally a registered electrician's report linking the fault to the network event. Processing takes 4 to 8 weeks. Appliances under 5 years old fare best. Storm-driven outages are usually rejected as force majeure: in that case, your contents insurance is the right channel.
Three fast checks: (a) look at the streetlights, (b) check whether neighbours have power, (c) open your meter box and see whether any breaker is in the OFF position. If streetlights and neighbours are dark, the network is at fault: call the lines company. If only your house is dark and a breaker is tripped, reset it. If it trips again straight away, unplug everything on that circuit and call a registered electrician: a faulty appliance or wiring is dragging the breaker down.
Transpower owns and operates the national grid: the high-voltage transmission backbone (220 kV and above) that ferries electricity from generators to lines companies. Outages at this level are rare but regional (the August 2024 Northland tower fall left 88,000 homes dark for hours). Lines companies own the low and medium-voltage network from the transmission substation to your meter. Almost all household outages happen on the distribution network, not on Transpower.
Most of NZ's rural and suburban network is overhead: poles, conductors and transformers exposed to wind, lightning, tree fall and salt spray. Urban Auckland, central Christchurch and Wellington CBD have largely underground reticulation, which is why those areas restore far faster after a storm. Rural Northland, West Coast and South Canterbury can sit on overhead lines for hours after a wind event. The Commerce Commission allows lines companies to exclude "major storm" days from reliability statistics, which is part of why public SAIDI figures look better than the lived experience.
Indirectly. They cannot turn the lights back on (only the lines company can), but a good retailer will: log your outage report and forward it, check eligibility for a goodwill credit, and act as a single point of contact for appliance damage paperwork. Electric Kiwi, Octopus and a handful of others have published outage credit policies. The four gentailers (Genesis, Contact, Mercury, Meridian) tend to handle requests case by case.
For a single fault on the distribution network: 1 to 4 hours, often inside the regulated SAIDI envelope. For a storm-wide event with multiple lines down: 12 hours up to several days in the worst-affected suburbs. Lines companies prioritise hospitals, water pumping stations, telecom hubs and high-density urban feeders. Rural and outer-suburban areas usually wait longest. Civil Defence may open community welfare centres if outage extends beyond 24 hours.
Go to Utilities Disputes, the free independent scheme that handles complaints between consumers and electricity, gas, water or broadband providers. You must first give the lines company or retailer a final written answer they refuse to revise. Decisions up to NZ$50,000 are binding on the provider but not on you, so you keep the right to take the matter further if you wish.