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Planned Outage Research

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Contents

1. Executive summary ................................................................................... 2

2. Agricultural field days and home expo surveys ...................................... 3

2.1 Summary of results .......................................................................................... 4

3. Focus groups ............................................................................................. 6

3.1 Research objectives ......................................................................................... 7

3.2 Discussion guide ............................................................................................... 7

3.3 Scheduled vs. unscheduled power cut preferences ................................... 8

3.4 Conditional acceptance of increased planned power cuts ......................... 9

3.5 Focus group feedback summary .................................................................. 10

4. Online survey ........................................................................................... 11

4.1 Summary of results ....................................................................................... 12

APPENDICES................................................................................................ 14

Appendix A – Field Days and Home Expo survey responses .................. 14

Appendix B – Focus group metrics and verbatim responses.................. 18

Appendix B.1 – Acceptable and dissatisfied metrics ....................................... 19

Appendix B.2 – Acceptance and dissatisfaction by group ............................. 19

Appendix B.3 – Verbatim responses ................................................................. 20

Appendix C – Online survey details and responses ................................. 35

Appendix C.1 – Online survey responses ........................................................ 35

Appendix C.2 – Advertising schedule ............................................................... 52

Appendix C.3 – Newspaper advertisements .................................................... 54


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1. Executive summary The purpose of this report is to present the findings of Powerco’s research into

consumer views on planned outages. Powerco’s Asset Management Maturity

programme has identified a need to increase planned outages. Increases will be

required in the coming years, primarily as large parts of the overhead networks

require renewal. This will have an impact on SAIDI/SAIFI performance. The reasons

for Powerco developing a better understanding of consumer views on this subject are

twofold. Firstly, Powerco would like to improve the process of scheduling planned

outages for itself and its customers. Secondly, the research will add weight to a CPP

application or any regulatory discussions about the possible need to change the

weighting of the planned outage component of Powerco’s SAIDI/SAIFI targets.

Research consisted of the activities below, conducted from March 2013 to April 2014:

• Field Days and Expo surveys (self-selected samples surveyed on iPads)

• Five focus groups conducted with a range of different customer types

• Online video and survey

An overwhelming majority of respondents consider planned outages to be more

acceptable than unplanned. A similarly majority would also prefer an increase in

planned outages if they reduced the risk of unplanned ones. There were variations in

responses from different consumer types but the overall preference was consistent

across all consumer types and demographics. The majority of respondents were

satisfied with the planned outages they had experienced. However, a significant

proportion was dissatisfied and most respondents would accept an increase in

planned outages only if certain conditions were met. This indicates it is essential for

Powerco to have robust customer-focussed processes in place if the volume of

planned outages was to significantly increase. Effective notification is the most

important condition to be met for customers to accept an increase. Respondents also

expressed a desire to see follow-up communication if plans change.

Subsequent sections of this report provide summaries of the feedback received

through each of the above activities. Detailed results are included in the appendices

of this report.


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2. Agricultural field days and home expo surveys Powerco attends agricultural field days annually as part of its on-going customer

consultation programme. In 2013, Powerco ran a stand at the Central Districts

(March) and Mystery Creek (June) agricultural field days. Powerco also operated a

stand for the first time at the New Plymouth Home and Lifestyle Expo (April). These

events provided opportunities for one-on-one discussions with consumers, safety

education and surveys.

The 2013 survey contained questions on topics including quality of supply and

communication preferences. Several questions about planned outages were also

introduced. Including questions about planned outages was the first step in this

research project. The questions were intended to test assumptions and to provide

guidance for subsequent research activities. Powerco staff members were on hand if

participants required assistance with the survey.

Surveys were conducted on touch screen tablets. Survey respondents were self-

selected. The surveys did not include demographic questions about age, gender or

income. However, they did ask questions about the location of respondents’

properties (region/district and urban/rural). Prior to answering the planned outage

questions, respondents were presented with an informational screen that said “The

final questions are about planned power cuts for maintenance (notified in advance).

These significantly reduce the risk of unexpected cuts but their timing will affect

everyone differently.”


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2.1 Summary of results

2151 customers on Powerco’s networks completed the survey, with a good spread of

urban and rural customers participating. See appendix A for further details on

respondent groups and variations between their responses.

A large majority of respondents specified that planned outages were more

acceptable than unexpected ones. Over two thirds of these responses were based

on certain conditions being met, such as effective notification and appropriate timing.

A large majority of respondents also specified that they would prefer an increase in

scheduled outages if they reduced the risk of unexpected ones. The overall

proportion of these responses was slightly lower than the previous question. The

proportion of “unsure/undecided” and “no” responses also increased. Asking if

someone would prefer more planned outages requires deeper thought than simply

asking if planned outages are generally more acceptable than unplanned. Therefore,

this variation between responses to the two questions is to be expected due to the

time constraints associated with the field days surveys.

For respondents who would conditionally accept an increase in scheduled outages,

good notification was specified as the most important condition to be met.

Q1. Do you think planned power cuts are generally more acceptable than

unexpected power cuts?


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Q2. Would you prefer an increase in planned power cuts if they reduced the

risk of unexpected power cuts?

Q2a. Which of the following conditions would you need to be comfortable with

to accept an increase in planned cuts? (SELECT ALL THAT APPLY)


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NB: this question was available only to respondents who selected the previous option

“Yes, but only if I was first comfortable with certain conditions.”

3. Focus groups

Market research company Key Research was engaged to conduct customer focus

groups. The purpose of the focus groups was to provide qualitative feedback to

supplement the quantitative data from the surveys. Five focus groups were

conducted to cover Powerco’s mass market consumer types:

• Group 1: Paeroa urban/rural residential, 8 male 7 female, age range 25-60+

• Group 2: Te Puke business owners (services, retail, hospitality and

manufacturing), 6 male 5 female, age range not specified

• Group 3: Tauranga urban residential, 2 male 5 female, age range 25-60+

• Group 4: Coromandel remote rural, 8 male 5 female, age range 45-60+

• Group 5: Matamata rural farmers, 9 male 4 female, age range 25-60+

The focus groups took place between 25 June and 2 July 2013. Participants were

recruited by telephone. Qualification for participation was determined by having their


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electricity supplied by Powerco’s distribution network and responsibility for the power

bill. NB: a focus group was not arranged with large industrial customers. Close liaison

takes place between these customers and Powerco’s key account managers.

3.1 Research objectives

The primary objective of the focus groups was to develop a better understanding of

consumer views on planned outages. However, other topics were also included. In

order of priority, the research objectives of the focus groups were to help understand:

1. Acceptance and perceptions of scheduled and unscheduled power cuts

2. Factors to consider when planning and implementing scheduled power cuts

3. Receptivity to increase in scheduled power cuts to reduce risk of unscheduled

power cuts, and preferred conditions

4. Communication preferences from retailers and Powerco regarding power cuts

5. Content, timing and methods of power cut notifications

6. Expectations around dates and times of power cuts

7. Receptivity towards hired generators during scheduled power cuts

8. Whether consumers take a ‘wait and see’ approach to power cuts

9. Perceptions of the price and quality of service provided by Powerco

3.2 Discussion guide

Detailed information was provided to Key Research to help prepare a discussion

guide for the focus groups.

After an introduction, the groups’ awareness and perceptions of Powerco were

tested. Education was then provided. This included explaining the structure of the

wider electricity industry, Powerco’s operational footprint, general components of a

retail energy bill and causes of Powercuts on Powerco’s networks.

The focus groups schedule is represented in the following diagram.


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3.3 Scheduled vs. unscheduled power cut preferences

Table 1 shows the responses of participants when directly asked for their preference

between planned and unexpected power cuts.

Table 1: Scheduled vs. unexpected power cuts preference

Scheduled vs. unscheduled

power cuts

No

Unsure/

undecided

Yes if certain

conditions are met

Yes under any circumstances

Do you think scheduled power cuts are generally more acceptable than unexpected power cuts?

0 0 22 22


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Would you prefer an increase in scheduled power cuts if they reduced the risk of unexpected power cuts?

2 1 23 18

NB: The first group conducted with Paeroa urban/rural consumers was used to help

develop a hand-out for the subsequent groups. Therefore, no hand-out responses to

these questions were obtained. However, feedback from that group closely matched

feedback from the subsequent groups.

3.4 Conditional acceptance of increased planned power cuts

Four response options were provided to participants when asked for their preference

about an increase in planned cuts. The “No” and “Unsure/undecided” responses are

self-explanatory. There were two “Yes” options provided because there is a spectrum

of “yes” responses. That is, some consumers may be willing to accept an increase in

planned power cuts under any circumstances, while others may be accepting of an

increase, but only within certain limits. For example, one consumer may prefer an

increase in planned outages providing they were comfortable with how many extra

planned cuts there would be. However, their neighbour may be prepared to accept

any amount of extra planned cuts, but only if they were scheduled at a certain time.

The option “Yes, but only if certain conditions are met” was intended to further

explore this spectrum. The importance of six stated conditions was then sought. The

responses do not provide metrics around conditions such as how many extra

planned power cuts would be acceptable etc. They are simply intended to provide an

insight into what is most important to consumers when considering planned cuts. NB:

no other conditions were identified by participants. Table 2 shows how participants

ranked the importance of the stated conditions.

Table 2: Importance of conditions for acceptance of increased scheduled power cuts


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Rank Condition Description

1

Effective notification

Good notification i.e. knowing about power cuts in advance with enough time to make contingency plans, plus the actual notification method.

2=

Timing of power cuts Good communication and information

Suitable timing of any additional planned power cuts (time of day and/or season). Good communication and access to information during planned cuts.

3 Duration of power cuts

Being comfortable with the duration of any extra planned power cuts.

4 How many power cuts

Being comfortable with how many extra planned power cuts there would be

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Resulting network benefits

Being satisfied with the benefits in network performance as a result of the extra planned power cuts.

3.5 Focus group feedback summary

• There was general satisfaction with how scheduled power outages are

currently conducted, with some communication improvements desired.

• All focus group participants thought that planned power cuts are more

acceptable than unexpected power cuts.

• Participants overwhelmingly preferred an increase in planned power cuts if

they reduced the risk of unexpected power cuts.

• Participants were consistent in their answers. That is, they tended to say

“Yes, if certain conditions are met” or “Yes, under any circumstances” for both

questions.

• Effective notification is the most important condition specified by participants

who would conditionally accept an increase in scheduled outages. A mix of


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communication channels is desired during both scheduled and unexpected

outages.

• Most participants expected communication regarding a scheduled power cut

to be with their retailer. However, businesses and farmers expect closer a

relationship with Powerco or contractors.

• There was a widespread perception amongst participants that scheduled

power cut cannot be changed, and that they will not please everyone.

4. Online survey The final research activity was an online survey, conducted over March and April

2014. It built upon information obtained from the field days surveys and the focus

groups. An online survey was chosen because it allows participants time for more in-

depth consideration of their responses. This means that, in addition to the survey

providing a quantitative data set, respondents were able to provide qualitative data in

the form of general comments.

A major consideration of this survey was how to ensure respondents were informed

and therefore able to provide relevant feedback. For example, with the field days

surveys, Powerco staff members were on hand to answer questions or provide


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clarification. That is not possible with an online survey. To ensure participants were

informed before undertaking this survey, Powerco commissioned a professionally

produced six minute video. The video explains why we have planned outages and

the process for scheduling them. Participants were required to watch the video

before completing the survey. The video can be viewed on Powerco’s website at

http://www.powerco.co.nz/About-Us/Our-Videos/.

Newspaper advertisements were used to advise consumers about the survey. It was

determined that an incentive would be required for consumers to spend at least 10

minutes watching the video and completing the survey. The incentive was a chance

to win a $3,000 energy credit. It is not expected that the offering of an incentive

added any significant response bias. This is because advertising of the survey made

it clear that Powerco was seeking feedback on an important topic relating to an

essential service. A number of verbatim comments made through the survey

indicated that participants understood this.

Full details of the survey responses, the adverts and the advertising schedule are

included in Appendix C of this report.

4.1 Summary of results

467 responses were received with a good demographic spread by age and gender.

The vast majority of responses were from residential consumers (82.83%) with the

remainder from lifestyle block owners (9.23%), farmers/agricultural (4.29%),

businesses (2.58%) and “other” (1.07%). Geographically, responses were received

from right across Powerco’s footprint. The largest clusters were New Plymouth

district (33.48%), Palmerston North (11.8%), Tauranga and Whanganui (both 8.8%).

In general terms, the results of this survey match the key preferences conveyed in

the previous research activities. That is, respondents displayed a clear preference for


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planned outages over unplanned. This result was confirmed by direct questions and

by comparing metrics obtained from questions about preferences regarding

frequency and duration of planned versus unplanned outages.

An overwhelming majority of respondents would also prefer an increase in planned

outages if they reduced the risk of unplanned ones. 41% selected “Yes (under any

circumstances)” and 52% selected “Yes (but only if I was first comfortable with

certain conditions).” 4.5% selected “unsure/undecided” and 2.5% selected “No.” For

those who would conditionally accept an increase, good notification was the most

important condition that would need to be met. However, the “all of the above” option

was by far the most selected, indicating that a range of conditions are important. It

should be noted that the multi choice option used in the field days survey about the

benefits of doing the work was removed from the online version of this question. This

was because it received the lowest response in the field days survey. It may explain

the much higher proportion of “all of the above” responses.

Most people who had experienced a planned outage in the last two years were

satisfied with the process. However, a significant proportion was either neutral

(13.66%) or unsatisfied (6.56%) / very unsatisfied (2.73%). Most dissatisfaction

related to perceptions of poor communication with the end consumer. This, combined

with the 52% of respondents who would accept (conditionally only) an increase in

planned outages, indicates it is essential for Powerco and retailers to have robust

customer-focussed processes in place. Failure to do so would leave Powerco

vulnerable to increased levels of complaints if the volume of planned outages was to

significantly increase.

Almost two thirds of respondents expected to communicate with their retailer about

planned outages. A significant 32.97% expected to be able to contact Powerco

directly. This group was made up of much higher proportions of farmers, business

owners/managers and lifestyle block owners. 53% of farmers and business

owners/managers expected to be able to contact Powerco directly. The figure for

lifestyle block owners was 51%. Only 29% of residential consumers expected to be

able to contact Powerco directly. This is consistent with feedback from the focus


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groups. Verbatim responses indicate a strong desire for follow up communication if

the planned outage were to be rescheduled.

It was clear that customers want to be informed in notifications about why the

planned outage is necessary and what benefits there will be from the work.

Responses indicated it was slightly more important for consumers to be informed of

the benefits of the work than the type of work that is actually being done.

Overall, consumers are accepting of the need for planned outages and will be open

to an increase, providing Powerco and retailers meet certain conditions. Namely,

notification must be effective; outages are scheduled with consideration for the

different needs of consumers; that specified times are adhered to and that any

changes to plans or unforeseen circumstances are relayed back to consumers.

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APPENDICES

Appendix A – Field Days and Home Expo survey responses

Responses by consumer type:


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Definitions:

Urban = within the 50km/hr road speed limits of a town with a population of 3000 or more

Urban/rural = within the 50km/hr road speed limits of a town with a population of less than 3000

Rural = outside the 50km/hr road speed limits, less than 75km distance from the main town

in the district.

Remote rural = more than 75km distance from the main town in the district.

Responses by location:

District/City % #

New Plymouth district 21.94% 472

Manawatu district 11.67% 251


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Tauranga 9.95% 214

Western Bay of Plenty district 8.88% 191

Palmerston North 8.69% 187

Matamata Piako 7.48% 161

South Taranaki 5.30% 114

Whanganui 4.56% 98

South Waikato 4.51% 97

Rangitikei 3.44% 74

Hauraki 2.65% 57

Masterton 2.46% 53

Stratford 2.46% 53

Thames-Coromandel 2.37% 51

Tararua (Mangatainoka and south) 1.63% 35

Carterton 1.26% 27

South Wairarapa 0.74% 16

Q1. Do you think planned power cuts are generally more acceptable than

unexpected power cuts (by consumer type)?


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Q2. Would you prefer an increase in planned power cuts if they reduced the

risk of unexpected power cuts (by consumer type)

Q2a. Which of the following conditions would you need to be comfortable with

to accept an increase in planned cuts? – SELECT ALL THAT APPLY (by

consumer type)


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Appendix B – Focus group metrics and verbatim responses


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Appendix B.1 – Acceptable and dissatisfied metrics

Table 3 shows responses to questions about the number and duration of outages

(planned vs. unexpected), and lead-in timing for notifications. It contains the range of

responses and averages that would be considered acceptable or would result in

dissatisfaction.

NB: Averages are derived from all groups. Because of the small sample size of

consumers surveyed, they should be used for indicative purposes only. Outliers have

been removed from the calculation of averages.

Table 3: Acceptable and dissatisfied metrics – all groups

Acceptable Number range/ average

Dissatisfied Number range/ average

What number of scheduled power cuts per year would be acceptable to you?

Range = 1 – 12 Average = 4

What number of scheduled power cuts per year would cause you to become very dissatisfied?


What number of unscheduled power cuts per year would be acceptable to you?


What number of unscheduled power cuts per year would cause you to become very dissatisfied?


What amount of time would it be acceptable for you to be without power during a scheduled power cut?

Range = 1 – 8 hours Average = 3 hours

What amount of time without power would cause you to become very dissatisfied during a scheduled power cut?

Range = 1 – 12 hours Average = 5hrs

What amount of time would it be acceptable for you to be without power during an unscheduled power cut?


What amount of time without power would cause you to become very dissatisfied during an unscheduled power cut?


How many days’ notice would be acceptable to you when being informed of a scheduled power cut?

Range = 7 – 14 days Average = 9 days

How many days’ notice would cause you to become very dissatisfied when being informed of a scheduled power cut?

Range = 1 – 7 days Average = 3 days

Appendix B.2 – Acceptance and dissatisfaction by group


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Table 4: Acceptable and dissatisfied metrics – averages by individual group

Acceptance and dissatisfaction by group (average)

Group 1 Paeroa

urban/rural residential

Group 2 Te Puke business owners

Group 3

Tauranga urban

residential

Group 4

Coromandel remote

rural

Group 5

Matamata rural

farmers

Number of scheduled cuts per year (acceptable)

4 3 2 4 5

Number of unscheduled cuts per year (acceptable)

3 2 2 3 1

Number of scheduled cuts per year (dissatisfied)

12 8 5 7 9

Number of unscheduled cuts per year (dissatisfied)

10 6 4 5 4

Duration of scheduled cuts (acceptable)

5 hours 1 hour 3 hours 2 hours 5 hours

Duration of unscheduled cuts (acceptable)

3 hours 1 hour 2 hours 2 hours 1 hour

Duration of scheduled cuts (dissatisfied)

7 hours 5 hours 4 hours 4 hours 6 hours

Duration of unscheduled cuts (dissatisfied)

5 hours 2 hours 2 hours 9 hours 2 hours

Number of days’ notice for scheduled cut (acceptable)

7 days 9 days 13 days 10 days 9 days

Number of days’ notice for scheduled cut (dissatisfied)

2 days 5 days 6 days 4 days 2 days

Appendix B.3 – Verbatim responses


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Have you experienced any scheduled power cuts? If yes, how did you manage them?

Group 1 – Paeroa residential

• We had a power cut at work, scheduled power outage, in the big dairy factory, and I

turned up to work and wondered why it was all so quiet and there was no one in the car

parks, and I went round and there was a sign on their door saying, “Due to the scheduled

power outage ...” They were notified by their power company, which I think was Mercury,

but our power company, which was a different power company, hadn’t told us, and it was

a scheduled power cut. So, we just turned up at work. They knew about it and the only

reason we knew about it was because they knew about it and they were all at home.

Instead we did some office cleaning. We thought we would make use of this time and did

some filing.

• They say it’s three o’clock and then three o’clock comes and nothing happens, then all of

a sudden four o’clock it goes off.

• Fortunately, these types of things don’t really happen very often, so it’s quite a rare

event. Personally, I can’t actually remember the last time we had a scheduled power

outage, particularly in Paeroa.

• They do have it in a rural area at least every year. Especially up the Thames coast.

• It does if it unplugs all your clock timers and everything else. You come home and

everything’s just going blink blink.

• Either that or you come home and find a strange smell coming from your fridge in your

kitchen where something’s gone off because it’s been off for too long.

Group 2 – Te Puke business owners

• Only one in ten years. It wasn’t recent.

• Last week there was a fault, they worked on it throughout the week, cutting power off at

night. I’m sure it was scheduled, but it wasn’t notified. So our gear and equipment was

getting switched off and on without any notification.

• The affected block in town was quite specific, so they know which block they’re affecting.

So they need to contact the businesses within that block, like tonight between eleven at

night and three in the morning the power will be off. Most people won’t care, but when

you’ve got gear that needs to keep running, to have the power going on and off it’s a

irritation.

• They didn’t know it was going to affect all the burglar alarms in the town I’m guessing.

• The last time I don’t think there were any problems. We just worked around it. For a

planned outage the process has usually worked for us.

• Ninety per cent of the time the power goes off when they say, but they should let you


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know or phone you. It’s fine if their times are accurate when they cut the power off.

Group 3 – Tauranga urban residential

• We had one once when we were in Pillans Point. They told us that on a certain date it

was going to be off between certain hours, and that was fine as you can work around it.

It’s fine, as long as it’s not too long.

• We had one not very long ago. It was at night time, so of course you set your alarm clock

and then you have a problem. Admittedly, we’ve got our phones now.

• The power came on at half past five in the morning but it was out all night. Quite often

when it does come back on, it comes on early and your alarm clock beeps or something

goes beep to let you know, which is a nuisance. It was only about three weeks ago that

we had one. They replaced poles or something similar.

• I’ve not had a planned one.

• I have had a planned one but I think when it happened I went out anyway, so I didn’t

care.

• One was during working hours, so it didn’t really make any difference to me.

• Yeah, I lived in Glen Terrace, in that area for years and always had power cuts, always.

Welcome Bay, since I’ve been out there, I’ve been out there a year and we haven’t had

one.

• Someone has mentioned to me that they reckon it’s the lines coming in from Te Puna

apparently are quite bad, or there’s something around the Te Puna area and it knocks

out most of Matua and Bellevue and Otumoetai quite regularly.

Group 4 – Coromandel remote rural

• I would think that there’s a lot of people around the Coromandel that live off-grid. I’m

beginning to think that’s probably a good idea, because the technology gets better and

better and more accessible.

• To me, it doesn’t worry, we get around it.

• For me, it’s only pull the generator out and start it and it’s all good. But to him, he

couldn’t understand, so that’s how city people are radically different to country people.

• And we have systems in place, we’ve got torches, we’ve got generators.

• Transistor radios.

• And we know where to find them.

• Normally, I would plan to be out or something. If there’s no power, I’ll go and visit my

friends in Coromandel town.

• When you’re living up here, you do expect to get power cuts because we’re susceptible

to winter storms and you just arrange your life around it.


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Group 5 – Matamata rural farmers

• The last one I know of was the Hinuera substation line.

• We had two days scheduled for pole replacement, they weren’t successive days but it

was for most of the day each day.

• We had one about five or six months ago.

• You just live with it.

• You just carry on like normal when it happens.

• I plan to have a day out because we have no water if there’s no power.

• Our last scheduled one we got all the stuff through the mail and it didn’t even happen. I

went out for the day for no reason at all.

• It’s usually scheduled line maintenance.

• Scheduled outages go ok, and they usually try and do that in the wintertime too when

there’s not so many cows milking. The power is normally on up to an hour earlier than

they’ve said, they rarely go longer than the scheduled times advised.

• The worst thing about those is the power surges.

• Eventually you get it go off and come on again, and then it’ll actually go off, but you can

get damage to any electrical stuff.

• The last power surge we had was really bad, it fried all the electrical equipment in the

neighbour’s house.

• The worst problem is to find an analogue telephone to phone them up, because the other

plug-in phones don’t work.

• You work around it.

If yes, how would you rate the quality of the notification?

Group 1 – Paeroa residential • They always give you notice.

• They always give you notification and say it’s going to happen on a certain day at a

certain time, a good fortnight beforehand.

• You get a lot of notice and it always goes off at the right time. It’ll say, “From nine until

three”, and they’re very specific and they are very prompt at turning it off. Sometimes it

comes back on a bit earlier, but you usually get one, and then a week later another one,

but you’ll get plenty of notification. I’ve always been quite satisfied.

• The old communication isn’t coming through here sometimes.

• Pretty careful about giving notification in the rural area.

• They give you lots of notice, so they should get their act together and do it on the time

they say they’re going to do it.



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• Currently they send a notice out, if they send a letter or a card for planned stuff.

• They probably thought they were only affecting the businesses at that time, but it does

also affect some businesses that aren’t open as well. Just let the community that are

involved know.

• At eleven o’clock at night they only notified the pub who was the only place open, but

other businesses were affected even at that time although they were closed.


• You get a letter in the mail, and that’s fine.

• Yes, it’s good.

• They said it would be on by half past five and it came on at twenty past five, so it was

spot on. They were very good. It was planned for overnight.

• I think it was planned three to four weeks before that, and they let us know.


• Yes, by mail by the retailer. We had a letter.

• The problem, going back to that one and the previous one we had, was when you rang

to try and get some response, the help desk couldn’t even tell you so nobody was telling

the helpdesk, so I mean, they’re the ones dealing with the calls but no one out in the field

was saying this is going to be twelve hours, guys, just tell the people that ring up, or

whatever it is.

• We’ve had a notified closure recently, they turned up a week early and I said, “here’s my

notice sitting on the fridge, I think you’ll find you’re a week early”, and they went, “Oh, so

we are” and came back a week later.


• The scheduled ones they give you a couple of weeks’ notice via a letter in the post.

• I can’t remember who the communication came from, I guess it was Powerco. I assume

they put in the local paper as well.

• It was notified in advance through their mail out, plus the local papers saying there was a

shutdown.

• They tell you what roads it’s going to happen on so you are aware. If you’re not

mentioned then you’re ok.

• The reason for the outage is always stated in the notifications we get.

• I think what they’re sending out is satisfactory.


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If you had the choice of scheduled (notified in advance) or unexpected power cuts, which would be your preference? Why is that?


• Scheduled.

• Random ones. Realistically, if the power goes off, the power goes off. It’ll come back on

again. Sure enough, in five minutes it will be back on.

• If you’re talking about them wanting to do maintenance, yes, I would like to be notified

rather than just them cut the power off to do some work.

• Whatever happens happens.

• If the power goes out, the power goes out.


• Yes, it would be very helpful to have those outages scheduled, just letting us know I

guess, keeping to timeframes.

• Yes, provided they notify us if there’s a delay. I’d prefer scheduled cuts.

• As business owners and landowners in this area, we need to accept the fact that if we

want some progress and growth we have to be prepared to accept some scheduled

maintenance in certain areas that might affect different people. We need some

improvements.

• My business wouldn’t really mind a few scheduled breaks if it was for improvements.

• Unless there’s an accident or an emergency, it’d be reasonable to let us know in

advance. Keep us informed, especially if it doesn’t happen on that day let us know when

it is going to happen.


• I’m happy to have them under any circumstances, a scheduled power cut.

• Had a planned one but I think when it happened I went out anyway, so I didn’t care.


• Scheduled is good, on scheduled power cuts we’ve always know, but it’s not the

scheduled ones that concern us, it’s the car accident ones and they don’t seem to have

much idea.

• I would prefer to have scheduled outages and be told about them as long as we get early

notification and accurate timing. According to the graph, for the reasons of cuts,

defective equipment is unacceptably high. They need perhaps to employ more and apply

a higher standard of maintenance, which is normal good business practise.

• A stitch in time, maintenance produces prevention and nothing succeeds like saving for


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us. Definitely prefer scheduled, under any circumstances.

• I like to know if the power’s going to go out for maintenance, I like to know in advance

because I’m a wood turner as well. I can’t turn my wood without power, I like to know in

advance if the power’s going to go out. Should it go out, I also have backup, I use

firewood and a coal range and I can get by without it, but I’d still have to change my

programme if that’s going to happen but I actually make a lot of savings using a coal

range.

• We wouldn’t have too many cuts; it would rule out that we have to pay more because it

would be efficient. We’d be prepared.


• It’s really good having notice of outages.

• The scheduled stuff is fine. If there are unscheduled outages during milking it normally

comes back on fairly quickly.

In general, do you think scheduled power cuts are more acceptable than unexpected power cuts?


• I put two as acceptable scheduled ones, and I’ve put zero to how many [unscheduled

power cuts] would you find acceptable, because even if it is a weather event or a car

crashing into a pole. And I certainly would not accept them coming in to do maintenance

without notifying us that there’s going to be a power cut.

• It is a big job trying to milk cows with no power, particularly rurally, the way that we are.

It’s very, very important for farmers to know what’s going on. Us townies don’t really

care.


• I think as business people we should accept scheduled power cuts and hope that it’s

giving us more progress for a better life.

• If things improve over time that’s good. If scheduled cuts result in a decreased supply

then that is unacceptable. It needs to be monitored.

• I wouldn’t want to see the power go off on a scheduled break every week, but if it was

going to happen for a short period of time, as a business owner as long as it was going

to give me a better power supply I would accept those terms.

• So it’s not maintaining up to date, but to get us ahead. Upgrading to improve things

rather than upgrading to keep us at the current level.


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• You don’t mind it occasionally, but I wouldn’t want it all the time.

• You’ve got to look at it in a certain way. They want to schedule this outage to do certain

repairs or updates, which means the power is going to be out for two hours. But if they

don’t do it and it all goes bang, the power is going to be out for a lot longer, take your

choice.

• I’m happy to have them under any circumstances, a scheduled power cut.


• Scheduled is good, on scheduled power cuts we’ve always know, but it’s not the

scheduled ones that concern us, it’s the car accident ones and they don’t seem to have

much idea.

• I would prefer to have scheduled outages and be told about them as long as we get early

notification and accurate timing. According to the graph, for the reasons of cuts,

defective equipment is unacceptably high. They need perhaps to employ more and apply

a higher standard of maintenance, which is normal good business practise.

• A stitch in time, maintenance produces prevention and nothing succeeds like saving for

us. Definitely prefer scheduled, under any circumstances.

• I like to know if the power’s going to go out for maintenance, I like to know in advance

because I’m a wood turner as well. I can’t turn my wood without power; I like to know in

advance if the power’s going to go out. Should it go out, I also have backup, I use

firewood and a coal range and I can get by without it, but I’d still have to change my

programme if that’s going to happen but I actually make a lot of savings using a coal

range.

• We wouldn’t have too many cuts; it would rule out that we have to pay more because it

would be efficient. We’d be prepared.


• It’s really good having notice of outages.

• The scheduled stuff is fine. If there are unscheduled outages during milking it normally

comes back on fairly quickly

Would you prefer an increase in scheduled power cuts if they reduced the risk of unexpected power cuts?


• If it’s unscheduled I’d be expecting to get it on quicker than scheduled. I’d be waiting for


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it to come on again. If it was scheduled, I’d be expecting they’d be spending a bit of time

fiddling around in maintenance.


• I’d prefer that if it would reduce the risk of an unexpected power cut. Three weeks’ notice

would be good and I’d like them to keep to the times, if not if they could email us or let us

know somehow.


• I wouldn’t expect this to be monthly.

• I mean, any power cut is an inconvenience, albeit a scheduled one is less of a

inconvenience ‘cos you can plan for it, but I wouldn’t want to pay any more for that less

inconvenience of a scheduled one.


• If you’re told what they’re doing you’re probably quite happy for a lot more scheduled

outages.

• It depends what they’re doing. I’m not dissatisfied because they’re doing maintenance.

• Yes under any circumstances, provided there’s plenty of notification of the outages.

• I think if they say they’ll schedule it for a specific time, it is probably way better than

somebody coming back and saying, “That doesn’t suit me today and I can’t have the

power off at that time.”

What would be the best / worst times of day to be without power?


• Preferably Monday to Friday, not in the weekend.

• You know, there’s like the high power load during the day, so they’ve got to do it at night.


• This is about when it’s going to affect you and your need for that power, which means it’s

when you are working. Overnight need for power is reduced.

• A preference would be when you’re not at work or not needing the power, so the obvious

time is at night, but that’s not good for companies to do it cheaper.

• For a short outage we just run a generator so we can keep our main things going in our

store. An outage at night involves security issues. One computer will still run on our

generator, so will EFTPOS, and the telephone will work. We can keep going. For a short

outage that’s okay versus at night having your building not armed for an hour or two.


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• I have a motel and need the power on until about nine in the morning because that’s

when I get the business coming in and we need to cook meals. The morning is a busy

time at the motel. I can manage from nine to four o’clock, but I still need my computer to

complete work. But I need the power on at night time for security. I’ve got an eighty bed

backpacker hostel at the back of my place and ten motel units, so if there’s no power it’s

going to be very difficult.

• In deference to my neighbours who work in the evenings, probably ten to two at night

would be my ideal time for an outage, alarms notwithstanding.


• Well, I suppose depending on what the businesses are, overnight would be better. The

restaurants and video shops are not going to be open overnight.

• So maybe can you reschedule into the evening or something, or overnight.

• And then you’d have to look at the economic costs of umpteen floodlights and generators

and whatever else it takes to do it at night, as compared to the cost of doing it in the day.

I think there would be a lot of other factors that would come into play when they’re

deciding when to do it.

• I’ve had a couple of power cuts but they’ve not usually lasted for too long. I don’t think it’s

ever been at dinner time or anytime crucial like that.


• In November you’ve got twelve to thirteen hours of daylight where now we have eight

hours daylight. So if the power goes off at three o’clock in the afternoon and doesn’t

come on till seven, it doesn’t matter so much, it’s still light.

• Anytime between half past twelve to about half past two.

• So it needs to be done either the weekend or during school holidays.

• It would be wise to do all the repairs when it’s light to start with, and the safety aspect as

well when you can see, because at night time if they put it off we can’t see and they can’t

see to do the work.


• If they just keep in mind that we do work early in the morning but they’ve got most of the

day. If they can have the power back on at a reasonable time in the afternoon that

accommodates our work times. In this drought year our cows have needed to drink water

all through the day, so pumps need to be working to pump water to troughs.

• Dairying is a twenty four seven operation, but I’m sure they’re aware of that.

• Best in the wintertime when there’s not so many cows milking.

• Generally always try and turn the power off from eight o’clock or even nine o’clock in the


30

morning until about three to four o’clock in the afternoon.

What are the key things Powerco and retailers need to get right in the process of planning and implementing scheduled power cuts?


• A week’s notice if it’s a big power cut. If it’s small, three or four hours, you want at least a

week’s notice.

• Especially if it’s a half a day job or it’s going to be off for at least a day.

• You might not get the chance to at the weekend to sort something out. If you’ve got a

freezer full of meat and you’d be working and you might not get a chance to do anything

about it until the weekend.

• You’ve got something a bit more serious than a freezer full of meat then and you’ve only

got the weekend to sort something out, some businesses rely on power to keep what’s

involved moving. You need the time to sort that out.


• When they are looking at doing jobs they should look at what businesses they are

affecting. Can you accept the power off for three hours or three minutes. If you say three

minutes they’ll say you’re unreasonable. But if they outline what they need to do, then

you have to accept the power is going to be off for a little bit longer but give them an

alternative time to do it at. They know what areas of power they’re going to affect when

they do it.

• Well, the time is more important. I don’t care what they’re doing really. Right times

means you can plan around that outage.

• I probably wouldn’t be happy if they weren’t done on that day and they did it the next

day. I’d be unhappy in one go, not ten. Notification is the most important thing to me.

• I think in the rural areas they are out from ten in the morning until lunchtime, they work

around the milking times if they can.

• They could actually improve their gear and not just replace it.


• I think they’ve got to look at it in a different way for businesses. As residents it doesn’t

affect us quite so much as to what time it is, but I think as a business, especially

restaurants, it can be difficult. It’s different if it’s a bookshop. Maybe they can reschedule

a business area at a slightly different time, to accommodate.

• I would want fourteen days’ notice, two weeks.

• I’m happy with seven days because that’s long enough that I won’t forget it’s going to

happen.


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• As long as I had plenty of warning. More warning than anything.

• They should plan it through the year and give us a year’s schedule.

• Well, perhaps when they come to do the first scheduled cut, they say ok, this is the

beginning in a series of cuts that we’re going to need to do. Approximately this amount of

time apart. We will, again, communicate with you as these dates get closer.

• The majority of it should also be done in the summer months, because less people will

be inconvenienced in the summer months than they would in the winter.

• I think businesses should be taken into consideration definitely, especially if they’re a

food outlet or an old person’s home. They should have higher consideration than

perhaps the average homeowner. Not to the point though where they’re getting

everything first up and the poor old homeowners are left to last and start becoming

unscheduled because big business have taken priority.


• If a notification is going to be mailed there’s quite an expense.

• Putting a notice in the paper, that’s how we find out.

• Seven days notification.

• I’ve got fourteen days notification.

• That’s too long because things can change in two weeks.

• I put twenty eight because a lot of these guys have to put in a six week window, they’ve

got to apply for outages six weeks in advance. That’s just for Transpower, so they’ve got

to apply for these outages for themselves with six weeks’ notice, I’m sure they could give

the consumer twenty eight days.

• We will put those things aside because if the school does have to close for three or four

hours during the day, it does affect the residents because their children have got to be

sent home.


• I think that’s important to have it in the post, because I don’t read the papers fully. With

the post you make a note of it and you’re sorted.

• I’ve put yes, but with some conditions relevant to who is using the power, for example

the dairy farmers. If they just keep in mind that we do work early in the morning but

they’ve got most of the day, so if they can have the power back on at a reasonable time

in the afternoon that accommodates our work times. In this drought year our cows have

needed to drink water all through the day, so pumps need to be working to pump water

to troughs.

Do you expect to have any contact directly with Powerco throughout the process of planning and implementing scheduled power cuts?


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• You’d make a complaint to your provider first of all.

• I’d throw it on Facebook first. That gets answers.

• Let all your friends know.

• Most of the companies do actually have Facebook pages as well. That’s often the

quickest way to get a response is to chuck it on Facebook, on their page and you’ll get a

response.


• I’ve always done it through the retail. Quite often they aren’t even aware there is a

problem.

• I do ring Powerco, they’ve got a number and tell you to ring your retailer, but if it’s an

emergency then you ring the other number.

• It’s a very good idea to ring Powerco if you have a power fault and tell them you’ve got

an emergency, like when a life is at risk. They’ll give you better information than

TrustPower will because they’ll be more up to date.


• No, I don’t expect Powerco to contact me at all.

• No, not Powerco, the retailer should.

• I expect the one I’m paying the dollar to.


• If they’re going to be doing the work, they’re going to know about it. If you send it on to

somebody else to do, you’re not going to be guaranteed that you’ll still get the message

out clearly.


• Don’t care, so long as we’re contacted.

• It’s normally the contractors who notify you and not the power company. Northpower

usually tells you what’s happening.

• I’d hate to think an increase in my power bill was just to put a complaints line in place for

people to have a whinge.

What response would you expect if you asked for the date of a scheduled power cut to be changed?


33


• I wouldn’t even think about that.

• I wouldn’t even think about trying to ask them to change it.

• If I had a good reason, I’d give it a go, for example if you got a letter in the mail saying

they’re going to do it next week and it’s your son’s 21st and you’ve got all these people

coming, or you’re having this big wedding. I’d give it a go.

• Give them the reasons, and then I’m sure that if you got a valid reason and depending

on what the scheduled maintenance is.

• Depending on the particular significance of the date, to me, I’m sure that you could get a

big enough group in the community together to put in a complaint.

• I’d go to the media.


• There isn’t a lot you can do, really.

• You’re just one of the many.

• My dad was on oxygen in Tokoroa, and he had a portable but they only last half an hour.

And their one was going to be quite a while, everyone else was cut but mum’s was still

going. So don’t ask me how they do that.


• We haven’t got that opportunity.

• No because the answer you get is put your lawyer onto it.

• I think if it was severe enough, we would [consider banding together as a community],

yes definitely.


• When the notice comes out there should be somewhere you can directly contact them if

it’s inconvenient for you.

Do you consider that there are other customers also affected by the scheduled power cut i.e. timing affects everyone differently – impossible to find a time that suits everyone?


• Trading businesses will have different needs to properties out at Paengaroa.

• Powerco just needs to put their thinking cap on and make sure it does it at a time that

suits that particular bunch of people who will be affected.


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• It wouldn’t be difficult for them to do a survey on us, they’ve got all our details.


• And then you’re going to find ten other groups that are not happy about having it at night.

You’d go on forever trying to do that.

• You can’t accommodate everybody.

Do you expect to know why the power is being shut off i.e. what work is being done/what will the outcome of that work be?


• No.

• Yes, especially if you’re like a dairy farmer and that, you need to know why it’s going off

because then you can prepare for why it’s going off. If it’s maintenance, then it’s not so

bad, but if it’s just them having to cut the power off because they’re replacing a pole or

something like that.


• If there was a website where we could check for scheduled work it would be useful.

• They seem to hit a lot of power poles around here, we had power out last weekend of the

Fieldays for a couple of hours but I didn’t bother ringing up because most of the time

when you ring they don’t know why it’s out and how long it’s going to be out.


• Talking about the amount of time, it depends on lots of things, for example the reason for

it, the season.

• You want some reassurance about the length of time of the outage. I think also, just out

of courtesy and information, just some basic information as to why they’re doing it.

• You get curious and want to know why you’re being inconvenienced.

• I think we have a right to know why we’re being inconvenienced.


• Not specifically justification but more of an accurate assessment of time. The reason

doesn’t really make much difference if they need to do repairs. It’s the duration.

• Yes.


• If you’re told what they’re doing you’re probably quite happy for a lot more scheduled

outages.


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Appendix C – Online survey details and responses

Appendix C.1 – Online survey responses

Are you male or female?

What is your age?


36

How would you describe yourself as an electricity consumer?

What type of farm or agricultural operation do you have?

% #

Dairy 35% 7

Dry stock (sheep, beef, deer etc.) 65% 13

Please describe the type of business you own or manage.

• Document management

• Property management

• Child Cancer Foundation

• Café (x2)

• Hairdressers

• Storage sheds

• Fish and chips

• Graphic design and web design company

• Business support services

• Rural subdivision

• Motel


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In which district is your property located?

District/City % #

New Plymouth district 33.48% 156

Palmerston North City 11.8% 55

Tauranga City 8.8% 41

Whanganui 8.8% 41

South Taranaki 7.08% 33

Manawatu district 6.01% 28

Rangitikei 3.43% 16

Hauraki 3.22% 15

Stratford 3% 14

Thames-Coromandel 2.79% 13

Other 2.58% 12

Western Bay of Plenty district 1.93% 9

Waikato – other 1.93% 9

Matamata Piako 1.72% 8

South Waikato 0.86% 4

Masterton 0.86% 4

Carterton 0.43% 2

South Wairarapa 0.43% 2

Bay of Plenty – other 0.43% 2

Tararua (Mangatainoka and south) 0.21% 1

Manawatu-Whanganui – other 0.21% 1

How would you describe the location of your property?

NB: the same definitions were used from the field days surveys.


38

Who is your energy retailer (the company that sends your monthly bill)?

“Other” responses were:

• Grey Power/Pulse Energy = 4

• Just Energy = 4

• Tiny Mighty = 4

• Energy Online = 3

• Opunake Hydro = 1

Have you experienced a PLANNED power cut (notified in advance) in the last

two years?


39

When considering the entire process from notification through to the actual

power cut, how would you rate the experience?

Please tell us why the experience was unsatisfactory

Out for four days took too long

Notice received after power cut

No advance information

Because the power company cancelled it twice and then when it did go ahead there was no

notification at all. Very poor communication. Only found out it was happening when we saw

trucks etc. parked up at the end of the road

I rely on power and phone to run a medical alarm at my house that cannot be moved to any

other property, it is used to monitor me for medical conditions at my house. The payment for

the ambulance callout, if necessary will only be approved when called to my house. This will

not work without power

Because often we think we are having a power outage and we don't!

No one informed us it was coming back on and it blew up the microwave and electric fence

unit. Also to tell us it was going off we only had a knock at the door to tell us it was going off

now!

Outage cancelled without notification, then did not proceed on reserve day

It Blew Our House Water Filter When We Last Had A Planned Electricity Stoppage

With Meridian at the time - cut at weekend when everyone was home!

Found out from the local paper rather than something sent to us


40

The first one did not go ahead and we were not notified, therefore we effectively had two

outages, one unnecessary.

Had a letter from Mercury saying scheduled power outage will be wed 12 March 11.30 to

4.30pm. Then two or so weeks later another letter saying it was cancelled. Then the next

day I received a a piece of paper in letterbox from Powerco saying planned schedule was

going to be 12 march 16.00 to 16.05. I get home yesterday at 10.30 and have no power. it

did go back on luckily at 11 as I needed to be at my office job by 12.30. So I was totally

confused saying it was on then off then on but not at the stated time.

Wasn’t told of outage required, when we rang our supplier (Nova) they said they knew

nothing of and outage and to ring Powerco. Powerco then told us to ring our supplier.

The time did not match and more than one time was notified

Trustpower missed telling us of Powerco's planned power cuts

Not informed beforehand and too long

Do you think PLANNED power cuts (notified in advance) are generally more

acceptable than UNEXPECTED power cuts?


41

How many PLANNED power cuts (notified in advance) would currently be

acceptable to you over one year?

Average = 3.04

Median response = 3


• 1 every 3 years

• 1 every 2 years (two responses)

• 1 every 5 years

• Don't mind so long as it’s a weekday and between 9 - 5pm

• Any amount as long as sufficient notice given

• If there is a need

• As required

• As many as it takes


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What length of time would you consider acceptable to be without electricity

during EACH PLANNED power cut?

Average = up to 3.86 hours

Median response = up to 4 hours

How many UNEXPECTED power cuts would currently be acceptable to you

over one year?


43

Average = 2

Median response = 2


• If unexpected how can you ask if acceptable, as surely it's unexpected?

• Depending on the situation

• What happens, happens

• As many as come with faults

What length of time would you consider acceptable to be without electricity

during EACH UNEXPECTED power cut?

Average = up to 2.59 hours

Median response = up to 2 hours


44

Would you prefer more PLANNED power cuts (notified in advance) than you

currently experience if they reduced the risk of UNEXPECTED power cuts?

Which of the following conditions would you need to be comfortable with to

accept an increase in PLANNED power cuts?




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How important is it to you for PLANNED power cut notifications to contain

information on the following?

Why the planned power cut is

required e.g. to replace poles What benefits can be expected from performing the work

Very important 27.92% 29.25%

Important 45.54% 49.29%

Neither important nor unimportant

22.88% 19.10%

Unimportant 2.97% 2.12%

Very unimportant 0.69% 0.24%

Do you expect to have any contact with Powerco at any stage of the PLANNED

power cut process?


46

Do you have any general comments you would like to make about PLANNED

power cuts?

These should be done at late night. Rural business owner/manager (café), Hauraki.

Just be positive and plan work appropriately. NZ's feel they already have paid for a lot of the

electricity infrastructure in terms of transmission and distribution via taxes and rates so just

be really efficient and cost effective. Urban business owner/manager (business support

services), New Plymouth district.

We have had an unacceptable number of UNPLANNED power cuts (approx 25-30) in the

last 3 years which would suggest the network is run down. Therefore more PLANNED power

cuts than I would consider reasonable may be required. Lifestyle block owner, South

Taranaki.

Much preferred to have regular planned outages than to have unexpected and long

breakdown repairs due to lack of maintenance. The interesting video you presented

contained a clip taken in my street with Mt Taranaki in background and I have had many

unplanned outages due mostly to weather resulting in wire breakage and fuses blowing due

to wires touching and shorting out. The fault has still not been addressed even though it has

been reported many times. Rural residential, South Taranaki.

Do not have planned Day time outages during school holidays! Urban residential, New

Plymouth district.

I think this survey has been a good idea. I am in support of Planned power cuts and

understand the importance of the work Powerco does. Urban residential, New Plymouth

district.

This is 2014, and electricity is absolutely vital. I would have expected Powerco to currently

have or at the very least be working towards having temporary generation for the affected

area or the ability to reroute through another grid. Urban residential, Matamata Piako.

Extended power cuts on cold nights are bad for us with young kids rooms we have to heat

(including new born coming soon) an hour at most is ok on cold nights. Urban/rural

residential, New Plymouth district.

That your shut planner is on to it. Not some cowboy. That your shut start time and end time

are strictly followed. And start up means start up not 2hrs later. Urban/rural residential,

Rangitikei.

The letter that gives notice of the power outage could also have the contact details for me

(the consumer) if it goes longer than the expected cut off time. Last year, there was an

outage that went way past 3pm, and I didn't know whether to fire up the BBQ for dinner and

phoned our retail power company for information at around 5:45pm. Rural dry stock farmer,

Thames-Coromandel.


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I have commented on short durations for outages. This is because living rural we rely on

power for water pumps and this is the most inconvenient issue that arises from cuts. Rural

lifestyle block owner, New Plymouth district.

Usually we have had written notice in plenty of time but the most recent notice was only 24

hours before the proposed cut - and it didn't happen. The alternative date was a week later -

and it didn't happen again. In fact there is still some equipment lying in our paddock (cross

bars and insulators for power poles) which I phoned up about to have collected a month ago.

They are still sitting there. Not impressed. Rural lifestyle block owner, Hauraki.

Planned cuts should be avoided during peak times and weekends/holidays if possible. Are

Planned outages able to be made at night? Rural lifestyle block owner, South Waikato.

Things happen, as long as the service is restored safely and the communication is kept up

then the impact shouldn't be as much of a worry (for most people.) Urban residential, New

Plymouth.

If done on weekends or school holidays give us time to get out of the house before starting

i.e. not before 10am. Urban residential, Tauranga.

I think people need to switch off some of the time to appreciate power. There are many ways

to get by in a power cut. Urban residential, New Plymouth district.

I would like to be advised if planned power cuts are delayed. Urban residential, Tauranga.

I have no problem with planned cuts, I presume normally they would be during the day and I

would be at work, as long as I am notified in advance preventative maintenance is good in

my eyes. Urban residential, Tauranga.

Keep the system up to date. Urban residential, Tauranga.

Great that you are up dating our line, we get too many outages. Rural dry stock farmer,

South Wairarapa.

I run a child care centre from my home. I also raise chickens under heat lamps. So long as I

have 4 weeks’ notice I could work around it. Rural lifestyle block owner, New Plymouth

district.

Cuts to residential areas would be best during the working day when people are at

school/work and your employees would be able to see what they are doing as well as

contact other services if needed. Cuts to retailers would be better after closing, to minimise

losses. Rural residential, Thames-Coromandel.

Regular on-going maintenance is good practice, but since we are so very dependent on

power these days good communication helps smooth the process. Urban residential, New

Plymouth district.

Not long ago we had presumably a planned outage and we were not notified. Urban

residential, Palmerston North.

Get the message across to dairy farmers, to have a backup power supply for their milking of


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cows, when a disaster power failure happens! Urban residential, Western Bay of Plenty

district.

Just let us know by effective communications i.e. mail. Rural dry stock farmer, Masterton.

Just had one last week, and was fine, because we were warned the previous week, and it

lasted within the time specified. Prefer planned cuts to unexpected ones, as we need power

for toilets/water - tricky when unplanned :-) Rural lifestyle block owner, Rangitikei.

If planned, summer is better so heating can be maintained. Urban residential, Whanganui.

Great to see Powerco taking the time to explain who you are and what you do, and why you

do what you do! Urban residential, Tauranga.

I have always appreciated that cuts rarely last longer than the time stated but it can be

annoying to not have an easy option for locating information - especially in this digital age.

Urban residential, Hauraki.

Why is it such a problem to have a planned outage when overseas when reading the paper

have seen notifications for parts of towns and banks going off on a week day, and I bet there

no chance of taking banks, post offices major junk food restaurants off through week days

during normal working hours here. Urban residential, Masterton.

These cuts would be best made during the Summer Months as opposed to Winter for

obvious reason such as the necessity for elderly people to keep warm and also for the ill and

infirm. Example - complex electrical Medical apparatus such as home Dialysis Machines etc.

If it is possible to put the cuts into effect during hours of midnight to 7 am this would also be

a good move. Urban residential, Whanganui.

I appreciate the need for them and are therefore happy to go along with them. Urban

residential, Western Bay of Plenty district.

Early morning power cuts would be convenient to us and a lot of other people who are

sleeping during that time...Urban/rural residential, South Taranaki.

Cuts for more maintenance, all recent cuts due to failure of unmaintained hardware failing

from collapse, rot, and corrosion. Rural dairy farmer, South Taranaki.

We have a shared power pole in our backyard which means we have more than our share of

planned powercuts, which is okay but I would appreciate more communication from the

power people, as I would have liked to be able to unplug all electronic items etc. before

power comes back on. We have lost a few household items due to power surges.one of the

disadvantages of living rural I guess. Rural residential, Western Bay of Plenty district.

They are extremely stressful for me and make me anxious in the wait up to the power

outage. Urban residential, New Plymouth district.

It would be great if planned ones could be at night time. Urban business owner/manager

(document management), New Plymouth district.

I would like to be advised via a txt message or email at least 2 weeks prior to the powercut


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to ensure I don’t have as much chilled or frozen stock on hands and to help insulate

products more properly. Urban business owner/manager (fish and chips), Stratford.

As talked about in the video, there are different requirements for different areas, we are

farmers - and busiest at the beginning and towards the end of the day - with children we

would prefer to have more cuts but for less time rather than only one or two per year but for

an entire day - as we can’t just pop into town, we are self-reliant, in saying that we also

understand both Powerco and our retailer do their very best to deal with any outages - and

we have our own petrol powered generator for a backup for heating baby bottles and to run

our water pump so we can run water from our tanks. No matter what the outcome of this is, i

was very impressed with the ad in our local paper promoting this survey, as it's nice to be

consulted and for you to want to listen - well done Powerco! Rural dry stock farmer,

Manawatu district.

Accept why power cuts necessary and ok to participate but why are dairy farmers the LAST

to have power fix after power cut and town people have their power resumed immediately.

Rural dairy farmer, Hauraki.

Planned power cuts are more convenient than unplanned cuts. Rural dry stock farmer,

Manawatu district.

Whilst maintenance and upgrade work is essential in providing quality service and

production. It is not an opportunity to allow retailers to pass on unnecessary costs to the

consumer market to subsidize annual profit margins for shareholders. Rural dry stock

farmer, Manawatu district.

Definite times for power being off and then coming back on i.e. if we make plans to leave

home while the power is planned to be off we don’t want it to come back on as soon as we

walk out the door. Rural lifestyle block owner, Manawatu district.

I would like to be contacted directly e.g. by post or email. Radio or newspapers are not

targeted enough. I don't want much info on the reason or benefits of the planned power cut -

just a couple of sentences. Thanks for asking :-) Rural lifestyle block owner, New Plymouth

district.

I wouldn't mind having power cuts in normal business hours. But it's great to see you are

considering the general public when organising power cuts, thanks heaps. Rural residential,

Manawatu district.

The success of being able to supply uninterrupted power most of the time raises people’s

expectations of having constant access to power. Perhaps we need to be made aware that

not everything in this world can be available at all times. We need to be able to survive for

short periods of time without. Rural residential, Hauraki.

Is there any chance they could be overnight, say midnight - 5 am? Urban residential,

Palmerston North.


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I think it's good to be informed beforehand. Urban residential, Tauranga.

My only experience of a planned outage was the replacement of my gas meter. The

notification was awful - a badly written letter saying it would happen in the next 3 months. It

was also unclear who I should phone - Powerco does not seem to have any other number

other than its emergency number. Urban residential, New Plymouth district.

Early notification is very important and will allow us to make alternative arrangements to

cater for family needs e.g. meals, laundry, home security. Urban residential, New Plymouth

district.

Middle of the night would make most sense for most people, i.e. from midnight to 4 am or so.

Powercuts during the day are very unsuitable for most people I think. Urban residential, New

Plymouth district.

I prefer it to be during the day while I am work during week days. Urban residential, New

Plymouth district.

Thanks for the opportunity to have a say in with regards to upcoming power outages and

what suits me as a consumer. Urban residential, South Taranaki.

Timed during the day rather than early morning or evening. Urban residential, New Plymouth

district.

Good on Powerco for doing this survey and it also make people aware that this will be

happening, communication is very vital in these circumstances. Urban residential, New

Plymouth district.

I work in private surgical hospital. We need to know in advance to ensure our generators

are ready. Or to cancel surgery. Urban residential, Palmerston North.

Would work better for most people if power cuts were at night I think; less complaints

because most people are sleeping. Urban residential, Stratford.

Good idea as the maintenance benefits us all nationally. Urban residential, Palmerston

North.

Cuts should be staggered across times, so that no one sector bears the brunt of all the cuts.

Urban residential, Palmerston North.

Powerco should monitor retailers 'response time' for planned power cuts information sent to

customers. If it doesn't fall within an acceptable/agreed timeframe, Powerco should contact

customers directly for next planned cut and complain to retailer(s). Urban residential, New

Plymouth district.

Would like to think we have no necessity to have planned outages. Urban residential,

Whanganui.

I think people need to be kept informed that way they will be more acceptable for the need

for power cuts. I lived in Africa for two years and we had unplanned power cuts every day.

Urban residential, Tauranga.


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It is better to have maintenance done regularly rather than unplanned problems. Urban

residential, Palmerston North.

Great idea... please put my power lines under the ground, don't replace the poles.

Camberwell rd Hawera. Urban residential, South Taranaki.

I understand infrastructure improvements do require some interruption to be performed. But

at the end of the day it is for the better good of distribution integrity. Urban residential,

Tauranga.

Information needs to be passed on to consumers as to why they are needed and then I think

they will be better accepted in general. Although no one really wants them a planned cut is

far better than an unexpected cut. Urban residential, New Plymouth district.

With planned power cuts all conditions like weather etc are taking into acct,especially the

safety of the workers that are carrying out these repairs and also the public and consumers

who wil know when cuts are planned ,when they start and when power will be restored so

they will know when their power is back on line, I always treat all my power connections as

live as my power could come on line earlier. Urban residential, New Plymouth district.

As stated, I have solar hot water so need power for the pump to avoid damaging the panel -

how would this happen? Urban residential, Manawatu district.

I think because we live in the CBD area power cuts should be a non-event unless a fault. If

we lived further out I would I would be more accepting of more often and longer power cuts.

Urban residential, New Plymouth district.

Programmed maintenance is always a better idea and more cost effective - I think the public

will accept this concept without too much grumbling! Urban residential, Palmerston North.

Thank you for the informative video. It is good to be informed knowing that the information

you capture in surveys like this one is put to good use. Urban residential, Waikato.

Just do it it has to be done. Urban residential, New Plymouth district.

Thanks for the opportunity to provide input with regard to this most important matter. Urban

residential, New Plymouth district.

Reasons for the planned power cuts need to clearly explain that if they weren't carried out,

unexpected cuts are likely to happen in the future due to lack of planned maintenance.

Urban residential, New Plymouth district.

Necessary To Maintain The Network. Urban residential, New Plymouth district.

Not During Tea Time. Urban residential, New Plymouth district.

Important to know when and for how long as it can affect our home based business, i.e.

need power to operate equipment so no work can be undertaken during the power cuts.

Urban/rural residential, New Plymouth district.

Planned cuts in the months when electric heating not required. Urban/rural residential, New

Plymouth district.


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Off peak times if possible. Urban/rural residential, Manawatu district.

Planned power cuts notified on your website, Tickler re expected power cut in next pay

period from retailer with bill. Rural lifestyle block owner, New Plymouth district.

Appendix C.2 – Advertising schedule

Print advertising:

Half-page colour advertisements were run in the following publications. Two

advertisements were created – one to target residential consumers and one to target

farmers. Advertisements targeting farmers are highlighted.

Publication Circulation Run date

Taranaki Daily News 21,000 20/2/2014

Manawatu Standard 18,000 20/2/2014

Opunake and Coastal News 9,000 20/2/2014

Waikato RCN (rural publication) 42,000 26/2/2014

Bay News Tauranga 45,000 26/2/2014

Palmerston North Tribune 30,000 26/2/2014

The Midweek (Taranaki) 30,000 26/2/2014

Stratford Press 9,500 26/2/2014

Wanganui Chronicle 10,000 26/2/2014

Wanganui Midweek 21,000 26/2/2014

Bay of Plenty Times Agriculture Review 18,000 27/2/2014

Fielding Herald/Rangitikei Mail 12,000 27/2/2014

The District Monitor (Marton) 5,500 27/2/2014

Hawera Star 15,000 27/2/2014

Bay of Plenty Times (farming section) 18,000 27/2/2014

Hauraki Herald (farming section) 26,000 28/2/2014

Bay of Plenty Coast and Country (farming page) 36,500 28/2/2014

Rural News Unavailable 4/3/2014

Central Districts Farmer Unavailable 7/3/2014

Bay News Tauranga 45,000 12/3/2014

Palmerston North Tribune 30,000 12/3/2014

The Midweek (Taranaki) 30,000 12/3/2014

Stratford Press 9,500 12/3/2014


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Wanganui Chronicle 10,000 12/3/2014

Wanganui Midweek 21,000 12/3/2014

Wanganui Chronicle on the land (farming section) 18,000 13/3/2014

Bay of Plenty Times Farming 18,000 13/3/2014

Manawatu Standard 18,500 13/3/2014

Fielding Herald/Rangitikei Mail 12,000 13/3/2014

The District Monitor (Marton) 5,500 13/3/2014

Taranaki Daily News 21,000 13/3/2014

Hawera Star 15,000 13/3/2014

Opunake and Coastal News 9,000 13/3/2014

Hauraki Herald 26,000 14/3/2014

Waikato RCN (rural publication) 42,000 26/3/2014

NB: Waikato RCN also includes South Waikato (circulation 11,800), Matamata

Chronicle (circulation 7,800), Cambridge Edition (circulation 1,200) and Piako Post

(circulation 10,200).

Online advertising:

Online advertisements also ran for 10 days from the beginning of March on the

following websites.

Website Placement

Stuff.co.nz – NZ Farmer Run of site

Wellington (Stuff.co.nz) Run of site

Manawatu (Stuff.co.nz) Regional page

Wanganui (APN) Regional page

Bay of Plenty Times (APN) Regional page

Taranaki Daily News (Stuff.co.nz) Regional page

Waikato Times (Stuff.co.nz) Regional page


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Appendix C.3 – Newspaper advertisements


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