New Zealand's electricity savings well short of target, warn
New Zealand - -- Nationwide electric power cuts loom because New Zealanders are falling well short of the 10 percent power saving needed to avert blackouts, officials said Wednesday.
In the first 24 hours after the government called for 10 percent voluntary electricity savings, consumers managed only a 3.4 percent cut in usage, the Winter Power Taskforce said in a statement. Electricity suppliers began cutting power Wednesday to household hot water cylinders for up to 13 hours a day as the crisis deepened. Power blackouts could occur this winter in a "worst-case" scenario, the taskforce added.
Nearly three-quarters of New Zealand's power is hydroelectric. Water levels in lakes that drive power plants have dropped by about 55 percent after two years of dry weather. Natural gas supplies are under constraint because of lower-than-expected reserves at the giant Maui gas field.
Bill Hewitt, customer relations manager at network company Unison LTD, said the impact of water heating cuts was unlikely to be noticed if people were taking showers, whereas hot water could run out in households taking baths.
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Sudbury Hydro crews aim to reconnect service after storm
SUDBURY - About 300 Sudbury Hydro customers are still without power Thursday after Monday's powerful microburst storm.
The utility's spokesperson, Wendy Watson, says the power in the affected New Sudbury neighbourhoods should be back on by the weekend.
The storm, which Environment Canada said was classified as a microburst or straight line wind damage, downed a number of power lines in the city.
Now crews are struggling with access to the lines as they work to reconnect service in the area.
"In some cases, you can't get to someone's back yard, or you have to go through the neighbour's yard," Watson said.
"We have one…
