By Fallen line, sparks or smoke
Stay back at least 8 metres, keep children, pets and stock clear, and call 111 first. On the open rural roads of the plain, a line brought down by a gale can lie across a fence line or carriageway and still be live: never touch it and do not drive over it.
Help your neighbours
Live community map & report a power cut
If neighbours along your road are also dark, the fault is on the Powerco 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 across the plain see what is happening. It does not replace the call to Powerco.
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. In the Wairarapa that is Powerco, not Wellington Electricity. Call the number below if your report shows the outage is on the network.
Powerco
One lines company across the Wairarapa plain
Faults and emergencies, 24 hours a day, every day. Powerco will not give an exact ETA during a major northwest gale: trust the live map for the most current restoration window.
Coverage: Masterton, Carterton, Greytown, Featherston, Martinborough, Lansdowne, Solway, Kuripuni, Clareville, Gladstone, rural Wairarapa farms and vineyards.
Three Wairarapa-only factors
Why Wairarapa outages have their own pattern
The Wairarapa is a broad farming plain ringed by ranges, served by long rural overhead lines. Three local factors shape most of the outages on the Powerco network here.
Northwest gales
Masterton, Carterton, Featherston: the famous Wairarapa nor-wester funnels off the ranges across open paddocks, blowing debris into lines and clashing conductors. Wind is the leading cause of trips across the plain.
Long rural feeders
Gladstone, Clareville, rural Martinborough: single overhead lines run for kilometres out to farms and vineyards. One pole or span fault can darken a whole rural road, and crews have long distances to travel for the repair.
Single grid feed
The whole plain: the Wairarapa is supplied across the Rimutaka Range, so a fault on the transmission feed into the region can affect many towns at once until the supply is restored over the hill.
Wairarapa tip
If you farm or live on a lifestyle block out at Gladstone, Clareville or rural Martinborough, restoration takes longer because crews travel further and have more line to patrol. A small petrol portable generator for the fridge, freezer and water pump is a sensible buy out here. Never run a generator indoors and never back-feed into the wall: a registered electrician must commission any hard-wired solution.
Fried appliance in the Wairarapa? The claim path
Most Wairarapa 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 27 27 27 and ask for the incident number for your outage. Note the start time, the duration and any visible cause such as a tree or branch on the line.
- 2Lodge the claim with your contents insurer and send a written request to your retailer. Most Wairarapa 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 northwest gale or storm 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.
Wairarapa-specific questions
Frequently asked questions: Wairarapa outages
Powerco, 24 hours a day, on 0800 27 27 27. The same number covers Masterton, Carterton, Greytown, Featherston and Martinborough. The Wairarapa is not on the Wellington Electricity network. For a fallen line or any hazard, dial 111 first.
Yes. Powerco owns the poles and wires across the Wairarapa plain, from Masterton in the north down through Carterton, Greytown and Featherston to Martinborough, and out to the rural roads, farms and vineyards. Your electricity retailer can be any national brand, but for an actual power cut it is always Powerco that dispatches the crew.
The Wairarapa is supplied across the Rimutaka Range, so a fault on the transmission feed into the region can affect several towns at the same time until the supply is restored over the hill. Most local outages are smaller and confined to one feeder, but a major grid or weather event can be region-wide for a time.
Single fault on an urban Masterton or Carterton feeder: 30 to 90 minutes. Long rural feeders out to Gladstone, Clareville or rural Martinborough: 1 to 4 hours, longer when crews have to travel far. Major northwest gale with multiple lines down across the plain: 6 to 24 hours, occasionally longer on the most remote rural spurs.
Yes, normally by letter, email or text several days before the work, and the same shutdowns are listed on the Powerco live outage map. If you have a medical-dependent customer in the household (oxygen concentrator, dialysis, CPAP), register with your retailer so Powerco can give proactive notice and confirm contingencies.
Most Wairarapa 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 Powerco 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.