By Fallen line, sparks or smoke
Stay back at least 8 metres, keep clear of standing water near a downed line, and call 111 first. On the open Kaipara farmland a downed line can sit in long grass or floodwater, so treat any line on the ground as live.
Help your neighbours
Live community map & report a power cut
If neighbours along your road are also without power, the fault is on the network, not your switchboard. The map below shows outages reported by other Selectra readers across New Zealand in real time. Use it as a first diagnostic before you call: if an active outage is already plotted near Dargaville, crews likely know about it. A short anonymous report helps others see what is happening across the Kaipara. It does not replace the call to Northpower.
Immediate danger
Fallen power line, sparks, burning smell or smoke? Call 111 before reporting anything else. Stay back at least 8 metres from any downed line.
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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.
Who fixes the fault
Your lines company and its 24/7 fault line
Only the lines company that owns the poles and wires in your street can dispatch a crew. Call the number below if your report shows the outage is on the network.
N
Northpower
Dargaville and the Kaipara, one lines company
24/7 faults line. Northpower covers Dargaville and the wider Kaipara as well as Whangarei, so the same number works across the network.
Coverage: Dargaville, Te Kopuru, Ruawai, Tokatoka, Mititai, Baylys Beach, Glinks Gully, Aratapu, Maropiu and the Northern Wairoa farming district.
Why the Kaipara loses power
The geography behind a Dargaville outage
Dargaville's network is shaped by open dairy country, a long river system and an exposed west coast. Each of those plays a part in how and where the power goes out.
Long rural feeders
Power runs a long way overhead to reach the farms and settlements spread across the Northern Wairoa. The more line, the more spans and poles exposed to wind and weather, so a single break can affect a wide stretch of road.
West coast weather
The Kaipara sits open to the Tasman, so westerly gales and salt-laden wind hit the coast at Baylys and Glinks Gully hard. Storms that roll in off the sea bring down trees and stress the network across the district.
Dairy on the clock
Milking sheds across the Kaipara depend on power for the plant and the chiller. A backup generator and a clear plan to ride out an outage are worth having on a farm where a long cut can disrupt a milking cycle.
Kaipara tip
If you are on a farm with a milking shed or a bore pump, test your backup generator before the storm season and keep enough fuel on hand. Confirm a sparky has wired in a safe changeover switch so the generator never back-feeds onto the Northpower line.
Appliance damage after a Dargaville outage: what to do
Northpower does not publish a consumer damage-claim portal, so a surge that takes out an appliance in Dargaville is handled the standard New Zealand way: through your own contents insurance, with a written request to your retailer.
- 1Call 0800 10 40 40 and ask Northpower for the outage reference. Note the date, the time and how long you were off.
- 2Photograph the damaged appliance, keep any receipts, and ask a registered electrician to confirm in writing that a surge or interruption caused the fault.
- 3Lodge a claim with your contents insurer and, in parallel, send a written request to your electricity retailer describing the network fault.
- 4Allow 4 to 8 weeks for a response. Appliances under 5 years old with proof of purchase fare best. Pure storm damage is usually treated as weather rather than negligence.
Dargaville-specific questions
Frequently asked questions: Dargaville outages
Northpower, 24 hours a day, on 0800 10 40 40. The same number covers Dargaville, the Kaipara and the rest of the Northpower network around Whangarei. For a fallen line or any hazard, dial 111 first.
Check the live community map above for reports near you, then confirm on the Northpower outage map, which plots active faults and planned work across the Kaipara. If your neighbours on the same road are also off, it is a network fault and Northpower is the number to call.
Dargaville is fed by long overhead lines running across open farmland out to the coast. When a storm brings trees or branches down, crews may need to patrol kilometres of line to find the fault, make it safe and clear debris before re-energising. That travel and patrol time is why a rural outage can run longer than a town one.
Yes. Northpower gives advance notice of planned maintenance, usually by letter, text or email, and lists the work on its outage map under planned outages. If anyone in the household depends on mains power for medical equipment, register as a medically dependent consumer with your retailer to receive proactive notice.
Northpower does not run a consumer claim portal, and storm damage is usually treated as a weather event rather than network negligence. Your realistic path is a claim through your contents insurance, supported by a registered electrician's report, plus a written notice to your retailer. Newer appliances with receipts have the best chance.
Test your backup generator before storm season, keep fuel on hand, and make sure a registered electrician has fitted a safe changeover switch so it cannot back-feed the line. Store some drinking water if you are on a bore or tank pump, and keep 0800 10 40 40 saved on your phone.
Nearby outage guides
Power outages across Northland
Same storm front, different lines company. If the cut reaches a neighbouring town, here is the right 24/7 fault line and live map for the rest of Northland.
See the regional hub: Northland power outages, or browse every New Zealand region.