Coast supply reduced further

Press, 8 December 1988, Page 3

Coast supply reduced further

Cold conditions in the Dunedin and Invercargill areas forced the West Coast Electric Power Board yesterday afternoon to further reduce its supply. Residential areas in the West Coast were without power for up to two hours. The board had hoped to have to cut only hot water, using its own hydro-electric power stations to fill the remaining requirements. However, further cuts .were necessary to help relieve the problems in Otago and Southland. The deputy general manager of the board, Mr Bob McQuarrie, who is m charge of engineering, said cuts had been made for up to two hours in residential parts of 9 re 7' mouth, Cobden, town, Runanga, Blackball and Reefton, parts of hokitika, Kokatahi, Kowtotirangi, Arahura, and tne

area between Ruatapu and Ross.

THe board’s principal users of electricity, such as the Kokiri meat works, the Hokitika milk powder factory and sawmills, had co-operated in effecting savings throughout the day, he said. “We had a talk to them all on Tuesday and kept them up to date throughout the cuts today.”

“I think that we were fortunate to escape as well .as we did,” said Mr McQuarrie. The Buller Electric Power Board cut power for two hours in all parts of its territory, including the commercial areae of Westport, said the board’s engineer, Mr Denis Grant. “We had warned the shopkeepers on Tuesday, and they were prepared when we phoned them to tell them that their power was going off at a certain time,” he said.