By Fallen line on a farm or roadside
Stay back at least 8 metres, treat every downed wire as live, and call 111 first. On the open Manawatu paddocks a line on the ground can energise nearby fences and gates, so keep stock and people well clear until a crew has made it safe.
Help your neighbours
Live community map & report a power cut
If the next house or the neighbouring farm is also dark, 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 you, crews likely know about it. A short anonymous report helps others see what is happening on your stretch of line. It does not replace the call to your lines company.
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 on your road can dispatch a crew. Call the number below if your report shows the outage is on the network.
Powerco
Feilding and the Manawatu
National Powerco faults line, answered 24/7. Manawatu calls route to local depot crews covering Feilding town and the surrounding farms.
Coverage: Feilding township, Aorangi, Cheltenham, Halcombe, Sanson, Kimbolton, Rongotea, and the surrounding Manawatu farming district.
Flat farms and a famous gorge wind
What drives Feilding outages
The Manawatu is open, flat and notoriously windy. Most Feilding outages come down to wind on exposed lines and farm machinery on the rural feeders.
The Manawatu wind
Sanson, Halcombe, the open western plains: the gap-funnelled north-westerly that powers the region's wind farms also stresses the lines. Sustained gusts swing conductors and drive branch and debris strikes on the exposed rural feeders.
Farm and stock-truck strikes
Aorangi, Cheltenham, Rongotea: as a saleyards and dairy hub, Feilding sees heavy stock trucks, silage gear and tall machinery on the move. Overhead-line strikes by farm and transport equipment are a steady cause of localised cuts.
Hill-country feeders
Kimbolton and the back country towards the ranges: the lines that climb into the eastern hill country run long and through tree-lined gullies. Tree fall after a wet southerly takes longer to find and fix than a town fault.
A Feilding tip worth keeping
If you farm or live out towards Kimbolton or Halcombe, the longest outages follow the big north-westerly blows and wet southerlies. Keep service-line trees trimmed, have a torch and a charged power bank ready, check the map first, then call 0800 27 27 27 if power is still off and your neighbours are out as well.
Appliance damaged after a Feilding outage
Powerco does not run a public consumer damage-claim portal for the Manawatu network, so a surge that kills an appliance is handled through your own cover and your retailer rather than the lines company.
- 1Call 0800 27 27 27 and record the incident reference, the date, the time and the recorded cause.
- 2Claim through your contents insurance first; a sudden power surge is a standard insured event under most NZ household policies.
- 3Send a written request to your electricity retailer in parallel, with photos, the original receipt and a registered electrician's report linking the failure to the supply event.
- 4Allow 4 to 8 weeks. Appliances under 5 years fare best, and a specific equipment-fault cause succeeds more often than a weather-only one.
Feilding questions
Frequently asked questions: Feilding outages
Powerco, on 0800 27 27 27, 24 hours a day. The same number covers Aorangi, Cheltenham, Halcombe, Sanson, Kimbolton, Rongotea and the rest of the Manawatu district. If a line is down or you see sparks or smoke, dial 111 first.
Check the live community map above and Powerco's own map at outages.powerco.co.nz. If your neighbours are also out, the fault is on the network and a crew is most likely aware. If only your home is dark, check your main switch and fuses before you call.
The Manawatu sits where the prevailing north-westerly funnels between the Tararua and Ruahine ranges, which is exactly why the region hosts so many wind farms. The same persistent, gusty wind that turns the turbines also swings overhead conductors and drives branches and debris onto the lines, so wind is the single biggest outage cause around Feilding.
A fault in Feilding township: 45 to 90 minutes once a crew is on site. A rural feeder towards Halcombe, Sanson or Rongotea: 1 to 3 hours. A hill-country line towards Kimbolton after tree fall: 2 to 6 hours, because the crew has to drive the line to locate the break.
Yes. Affected addresses get at least 5 working days notice by letter or email, and the work appears on the live outage map under planned outages. If someone in the home depends on power for medical equipment, register through your electricity retailer for proactive notice and a contingency check.
There is no public Powerco consumer-claims portal for this network, so your contents insurance is usually the most reliable channel, backed by a written request to your retailer. A registered electrician's report linking the damage to the supply event is the key evidence. Pure-weather outages are generally treated as force majeure, which weakens a direct claim against the lines company.
Nearby outage guides
Power outages across the Manawatu-Whanganui region
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 the Manawatu-Whanganui region.
See the regional hub: Manawatu-Whanganui power outages, or browse every New Zealand region.