By Fallen line, sparks or smoke
Stay at least 8 metres back, keep children and pets clear, and dial 111 before any other number. Lines on the ground can still be live. On the Whitby and Pauatahanui hill roads, a conductor brought down by wind can be hard to see in the dark: do not approach it.
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 around the harbour see what is happening. 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 in your street can dispatch a crew. Call the number below if your report shows the outage is on the network.
WE
Wellington Electricity
One lines company across Porirua, Tawa and Whitby
Faults and emergencies, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Wellington Electricity will not give an exact ETA during a major storm: trust the live map for the most current restoration window.
Coverage: Porirua CBD, Titahi Bay, Elsdon, Cannons Creek, Waitangirua, Whitby, Papakowhai, Plimmerton, Pukerua Bay, Pauatahanui, Tawa, Linden, Grenada North.
Three Porirua-only factors
Why Porirua outages have their own pattern
Porirua wraps a tidal harbour and climbs into hills on three sides, with Tawa fed down a separate gully. Three local factors shape most of the outages on this part of the Wellington Electricity register.
Harbour wind
Titahi Bay, Plimmerton, Pukerua Bay: the open coast and harbour funnel strong nor-westers and southerlies onto exposed feeders, which is the most common cause of a short trip along the western suburbs.
Hill suburbs
Whitby, Cannons Creek, Waitangirua: homes built into the hills are fed by climbing spurs that run through bush. Tree fall after rain is the leading cause of the longer multi-hour outages in these suburbs.
Tawa gully
Tawa, Linden, Grenada North: Tawa sits in a narrow valley fed down the gorge. A fault on a shared feeder there can take a large stretch of the suburb dark at once before crews can isolate it.
Porirua tip
If you live up in the bush-fringed hills around Whitby or Pauatahanui and lose power often in winter, keep a charged power bank and a torch handy, and consider a small petrol portable generator for the fridge and modem given the longer restoration times. Never run a generator indoors and never back-feed into the wall: a registered electrician must commission any hard-wired solution.
Fried appliance in Porirua? The claim path
Most Porirua outages are weather-driven, which usually puts an appliance claim outside what the lines company will pay. Your contents insurance, with a written request to your retailer, is normally the right channel.
- 1Call 0800 248 148 and ask for the incident number for your outage. Note the start time, the duration and any visible cause such as a tree on the line.
- 2Lodge the claim with your contents insurer and send a written request to your retailer. Most Porirua policies cover surge-damaged appliances up to NZ$1,000 to NZ$2,000 per item.
- 3Attach: photos of the dead appliance, the brand and model, the original purchase receipt where possible, and a registered electrician's report. Appliances under 5 years old fare best.
- 4Allow 4 to 8 weeks. A storm event is force majeure, so the lines company will normally decline a fault claim and the insurer becomes the path.
Where to escalate
If a claim is rejected and you disagree with the final written answer, you can take it free of charge to Utilities Disputes, the independent electricity ombudsman. Decisions up to NZ$50,000 are binding on the provider but not on you.
Porirua-specific questions
Frequently asked questions: Porirua outages
Wellington Electricity, 24 hours a day, on 0800 248 148. The same number covers Porirua, Titahi Bay, Whitby, Plimmerton and Tawa. For a fallen line or any hazard, dial 111 first.
Whitby, Cannons Creek and Waitangirua are built into bush-clad hills and fed by climbing spurs that run through trees. After heavy rain a branch or whole tree comes down on the conductor, and because crews have to patrol a longer hill route to find the fault, restoration takes longer than a fault on the flat around the harbour.
Tawa sits in a narrow valley fed down the gorge, so a fault on a shared feeder there can affect a large stretch of the suburb before the network can isolate the faulty section. Once crews split the feeder, most of Tawa is usually restored quickly while they work on the smaller affected segment.
Single fault on an urban harbour-side feeder: 30 to 90 minutes. Hill suburbs (Whitby, Pauatahanui, Pukerua Bay): 1 to 3 hours. Major storm with multiple lines down: 6 to 24 hours. Wellington Electricity has restored over 95 per cent of customers within 24 hours of every major wind event since 2018.
Yes, normally by letter or email at least 5 working days before the work, and the same shutdowns are listed on the live outage map under planned outages. If you have a medical-dependent customer in the household (oxygen concentrator, dialysis, CPAP), register with your retailer so the network can give proactive notice and confirm contingencies.
Most Porirua outages are weather-driven, which puts them outside what the lines company normally pays. Take the claim to your contents insurer with a written request to your retailer, attaching the incident number, photos, the original receipt and a registered electrician's report. Only where the network itself was negligent (faulty equipment, poor maintenance) is a fault claim to Wellington Electricity likely to succeed.
Nearby outage guides
Power outages across the Wellington 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 Wellington region.
See the full Wellington outage guide, or browse every New Zealand region.