By Fallen line near floodwater
Stay back at least 8 metres and call 111 first. Whanganui's river-flat and low-lying streets can hold surface water in a downpour, and a downed line near standing water is especially dangerous, so keep well clear and warn others.
Help your neighbours
Live community map & report a power cut
If the rest of your street 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 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.
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.
Powerco
Whanganui (Wanganui) city and river valley
National Powerco faults line, answered 24/7. Whanganui calls route to the local depot crews covering the city and river-valley feeders.
Coverage: Whanganui city, Gonville, Castlecliff, Aramoho, Springvale, St Johns Hill, Bastia Hill, Durie Hill, and the surrounding river-valley settlements.
River, hills and the coast
What drives Whanganui outages
Whanganui's outage causes follow its geography: a flat river city, the hill suburbs above it, and the long valley lines that head inland along the river.
Coastal westerlies
Castlecliff, Gonville, the river mouth: the seaward edge of the city catches strong westerlies and salt-laden air off the Tasman, which drive conductor clashing and the occasional flashover on the exposed coastal feeders.
Hill-suburb tree fall
St Johns Hill, Bastia Hill, Durie Hill, Aramoho: mature trees on the steeper hill streets shed limbs in a wet, windy southerly. Branch contact and tree fall on overhead lines is a regular single-fault cause in the leafier suburbs.
Long valley feeders
Up the Whanganui River and the inland farms: lines following the valley run for kilometres past slips, river flats and bush. After heavy rain a slip or a downed tree can cut a long rural section, and the crew has to drive the line to find it.
A Whanganui tip for storm season
If you are on a hill street or up the valley, the longest outages follow a wet southerly that brings down trees and triggers slips. Trim trees clear of your service line before winter, keep a torch and a charged power bank handy, check the map first, then call 0800 27 27 27 if the power is still off and your neighbours are out too.
Appliance damaged after a Whanganui outage
Powerco does not run a public consumer damage-claim portal for the Whanganui network, so a surge that wrecks an appliance is handled through your own cover and your retailer rather than the lines company.
- 1Call 0800 27 27 27 and note 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 as well, 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.
Whanganui questions
Frequently asked questions: Whanganui outages
Both spellings refer to the same river city, and the network is the same either way. Call Powerco on 0800 27 27 27, 24 hours a day, for the whole city and the river valley. The official name carries the "h", but "Wanganui" is still widely used in everyday search and speech.
Powerco, on 0800 27 27 27, around the clock. The same number covers Gonville, Castlecliff, Aramoho, St Johns Hill and the surrounding valley. If there is a fallen line, 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 without power, the fault is on the network and a crew is most likely aware. If it is only your home, check your main switch and fuses before you call.
A fault in the central city or a flat suburb: 45 to 90 minutes once a crew is on site. A hill suburb after tree fall: 1 to 3 hours. A long valley feeder up the Whanganui River: 2 to 6 hours or more after a slip or storm, because the crew has to patrol the line to find 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.