By Fallen line or hazard
Stay back 8 metres minimum and dial 111 first. In winter, do not assume ice-coated overhead lines are de-energised: treat them as live.
PowerNet (EIL + TPC + OtagoNet)
Invercargill and Southland
Single 24/7 number for Electricity Invercargill, The Power Company (Southland rural) and OtagoNet (East Otago, Clutha).
Coverage: Invercargill CBD, Waikiwi, Otatara, Glengarry, Newfield, Strathern, Bluff, Wallacetown, Riverton, Winton, Gore (TPC), Mataura, Wyndham, Edendale, Te Anau fringe.
Help your neighbours
Live community map & report a power cut
If neighbours 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 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.
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.
Deep south patterns
Why Southland outages look like nothing in the North Island
Cold, salt, southerlies straight off the Southern Ocean: Southland's outage profile is built around the climate, not equipment age.
Southerly snow + ice
Otatara, Waianiwa, Wallacetown, rural Te Anau road: snow and freezing rain accumulate on conductors, causing sag and switching trips. Restoration is slow because rural feeders can be inaccessible in heavy snow.
Salt blown inland
Bluff, Tiwai, Oreti Beach fringe, Riverton: southerlies carry sea spray inland for kilometres. Insulators corrode and flashovers cause brief intermittent outages after dry spells end.
Tiwai smelter dependency
The Tiwai Point aluminium smelter draws roughly 13 per cent of NZ's total electricity. Local network changes around the smelter occasionally cause planned outages in Bluff and outer Invercargill: these are well-advised and unrelated to the network's reliability for households.
Reliability benchmark
Electricity Invercargill's urban SAIDI consistently lands among the lowest in the country, often under 100 minutes per connection per year. Rural Southland (The Power Company) sits higher because of geography and weather. The Invercargill CBD has a network density and maintenance schedule comparable to Christchurch's post-quake rebuild.
PowerNet damage claim, Southland
PowerNet handles claims on behalf of EIL and TPC. The process is single-channel and uses a standardised online form.
- 1Call 0800 808 587 at the time of the outage. Request the incident reference.
- 2Submit the claim form on powernet.co.nz within 30 days.
- 3Photos, receipts, electrician's report. Snow-driven outages on rural Southland feeders are usually deemed weather, not negligence.
- 4Decision in 4 to 6 weeks. Urban Invercargill (transformer or switching events) has the best success rate.
Southland questions
Frequently asked questions: Invercargill outages
PowerNet, on 0800 808 587, 24/7. The same number covers Bluff, Riverton, Winton, Gore, the wider Southland and East Otago (OtagoNet). For a hazard, dial 111 first.
Electricity Invercargill (EIL) owns the city poles and wires, The Power Company (TPC) owns the rural Southland network, and OtagoNet owns the East Otago network. All three are operated by PowerNet on a contract basis: PowerNet is the service provider, the three are the asset owners. A household pays the asset owner via the retailer, but talks to PowerNet for faults.
Single urban fault: 30 to 75 minutes. Suburban (Otatara, Wallacetown): 45 to 90 minutes. Rural Southland (Winton, Gore, Tuatapere): 1 to 4 hours. Snow event: 4 to 24 hours, occasionally longer in the most remote feeders. Southland Hospital and water-pumping infrastructure are priority restoration.
Snow-driven outages are usually classified as weather, not negligence, so a direct damage claim against PowerNet is unlikely to succeed. The exception: appliances damaged by a switching transient when the network re-energises after the snow event. An electrician's report distinguishing the two is the key to a successful claim. Otherwise, contents insurance is the right channel.
Indirectly. Tiwai is a major customer and its load changes can occasionally trigger planned local outages in Bluff or outer Invercargill while network reconfigurations occur. These are well-advised in advance and rarely affect central Invercargill or rural Southland. The smelter's contract negotiations have downstream effects on national wholesale electricity prices, but no direct effect on household reliability.