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Grid infrastructureNew ZealandEIR-0784

Substation fault cuts power across Tauranga and the Western Bay

2022Published 15 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor

SignificantElectricalProvisional
Estimated damageEstimated by the register's adjusterHow? Know the real figure?
Figure hidden: shown to subscribersLow confidence
supply cut for about •• daysShown in the record →Full estimate
From the recordRoot cause hidden
Where
Tauranga and the wider Western Bay in October 2022
Operator
Powerco and Transpower
What
Substation fault cut supply to 42,184 properties
Response
All customers reconnected by 1.20am on Friday
Cause
Fault at a substation on the national grid

Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): Transpower

What happened

A fault at a substation on the national power grid cut supply across Tauranga and the wider Western Bay in October 2022. Powerco said 42,184 properties were affected. The same report also said 35,000 properties were affected by the outage, without explaining the difference. Transpower said the outage resulted from the substation fault. Powerco said all customers were reconnected by 1.20am on Friday. The report also described a separate outage about an hour earlier, affecting more than 10,000 properties, and an outage affecting 74 properties in Whanganui. It does not name the substation or say what failed.

Contributing factors

Transpower attributed the main outage to a fault at a substation on the national grid. The report does not describe the failed equipment. Powerco said trees on lines caused one of the outages that night, and a substation fault caused another. Those causes are not tied to a named site.

Lessons learned

  1. Grid operators must name the substation and the failed equipment so insurers and engineers can assess repeat risks.
  2. Distribution and transmission companies must reconcile customer counts when reporting the same outage.
  3. Operators must link each outage to its cause when several events occur on the same night.

More lessons on outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

  • Name and model of the failed substation equipment
  • Exact time and duration of the outage
  • Cost of the outage to customers and operators

This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.

Source

sunlive.co.nz

Other entries that name Tauranga

Published 2026-09-15. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.

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Chart to reuse with this story: Grid infrastructure incidents in New Zealand, by year, free with a credit (PNG).

Grid infrastructure incidents in New Zealand: 9 entries, with a free alert for the next one.

Substation and transformer fires: the counts, the latest entries and a free alert for the next one.

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