By Fallen line or hazard
Stay back at least 8 metres, keep clear of standing water near a downed line, and call 111 first. After a gale, branches and conductors can come down across rural roads on the plains, so treat every fallen line as live.
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 part of the region. 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
The lines company for the whole Manawatu region
One lines company owns the poles and wires across Manawatu, so a single number covers Palmerston North, Feilding and the rural plains around them. Call it if your report shows the outage is on the network.
P
Powerco
Palmerston North, Feilding and the Manawatu plains
National Powerco faults line, 24/7. Manawatu calls route to the regional depot, which dispatches crews across Palmerston North, Feilding and the surrounding country.
Coverage: Palmerston North, Massey, Awapuni, Takaro, Roslyn, Terrace End, Feilding, Ashhurst, Bunnythorpe, Longburn, Rongotea, and the rural Manawatu plains.
Manawatu network signatures
What drives Palmerston North and Feilding outages
A flat, fertile basin pinched between two ranges and the country's windiest gorge gives Manawatu a clear outage signature. Three patterns dominate the regional register.
Gorge-funnelled wind
Ashhurst, Pohangina and the eastern edge: wind compressed through the Manawatu Gorge and over the ranges is the region's defining hazard. Strong nor-westers bring branches down on rural lines and stress overhead conductors well before town feels it.
Rural farm feeders
The plains around Feilding and Rongotea: the saleyards town and the surrounding dairy and sheep country sit on long overhead spurs. Tree fall, machinery and stock account for many of the faults that hit the rural network rather than the towns.
A compact city core
Central Palmerston North: the city's denser suburbs are well meshed, so single faults are usually contained and restore quickly. Most prolonged cuts in the region happen out on the wind-exposed rural feeders, not in the urban core.
A Manawatu tip
If you live on a rural feeder out towards Ashhurst, Pohangina or the open plains, expect a longer restoration time than central Palmerston North after a windy night, and keep a torch, a charged power bank and a battery radio handy. Households with a farm dairy or critical equipment should ask Powerco to note a critical-load property when they register one.
By town
More Manawatu outage guides
Want the detail for a single town? Each guide below shares the same Powerco fault line and adds the local outage patterns, suburbs and damage-claim path for that part of the region.
Palmerston North
The regional city, its suburbs and the eastern wind-exposed edge.
Feilding
The saleyards town and the surrounding rural Manawatu plains.
Whanganui
The river city and the rural lines running out along the Whanganui valley.
Levin and Horowhenua
The Electra network across Levin, Foxton and the Horowhenua coast.
Power outages in a neighbouring region: Taranaki, Wellington or every New Zealand region.
If a power surge damages an appliance in Manawatu
Powerco does not run a consumer damage-claim portal, so surge-damaged appliances are normally handled through your own cover rather than the lines company. Here is the path Manawatu households use.
- 1Call 0800 27 27 27 and ask for the incident reference, the start time and any recorded cause. You will need this if you make a claim.
- 2Lodge the claim through your home contents insurance, the usual route for surge damage. Keep photos, the original receipt and a registered electrician's report.
- 3Send a short written request to your electricity retailer as well, quoting the incident reference, in case the fault is later attributed to network negligence rather than weather.
- 4Expect 4 to 8 weeks. Appliances under 5 years old, with a receipt and an electrician's report, fare best. Wind and storm events are usually treated as weather, not negligence.
Manawatu questions
Frequently asked questions: Manawatu outages
Powerco, the regional lines company, on 0800 27 27 27, 24 hours a day. The same number covers Palmerston North, Feilding, Ashhurst and the rural plains. For a hazard such as a downed line, dial 111 first.
Check the community map above to see whether a neighbour has reported a cut, then open the Powerco live outage map for the official list of current and planned outages across Manawatu. If your neighbours still have power, the fault is more likely your own switchboard or main fuse, so check those before you call.
The region sits between the Tararua and Ruahine ranges, with the Manawatu Gorge funnelling and accelerating the wind. Strong nor-westers regularly bring branches down on the rural overhead lines around Ashhurst and the plains, which is why the windiest nights produce the most regional faults.
A single fault in central Palmerston North or Feilding: typically 30 to 90 minutes. Rural plains feeders: 1 to 3 hours. Wind-exposed eastern spurs after a gale: 2 to 8 hours, longer when conductors are down across a wide area.
Yes. Powerco gives advance notice of planned maintenance, usually by letter or email, and lists upcoming work on its outage map. If someone in the household depends on mains power for medical equipment, register as a medically-dependent customer with your retailer so the network can give you proactive notice.
Powerco does not run a public damage-claim portal, so surge damage is normally claimed through your home contents insurance. Keep the incident reference, photos, the original receipt and a registered electrician's report, and send a written request to your retailer too. Allow 4 to 8 weeks. Wind-driven storm outages are usually excluded.