Transpower litigation

Photo credit: STUFF

A class action has been filed against Transpower and its maintenance contractor Omexom over a major power outage in June last year that left much of Northland without electricity for several days. The claim seeks compensation for losses suffered by affected Northland businesses.

The outage occurred after a transmission tower north of Auckland collapsed during routine maintenance when contractors removed the nuts from at least two tower legs at the same time, a practice outside standard procedures.

TRANSPOWER SAYS ‘SORRY’

Last week community leaders in Northland accepted a $1 million “goodwill” payment from Transpower in settlement for the disruption and financial loss the region suffered when a pylon collapsed in June.

The settlement comes after Transpower released a report saying what most people had already deduced. 

It found standard practice wasn't followed when maintenance work was carried out on the pylon's fastening plates. A maintenance worker removed nuts from three of the four legs, instead of one, causing the pylon to topple. The report found the team member wasn't adequately trained or adequately supervised. It stated removing multiple plates at once had occurred in earlier jobs in June 2024, without incident.