The low voltage power poles and lines (and underground cables) on private property are called customer service lines.
Aurora Energy has commenced a project to inspect and repair known customer service lines built before 1 Oct 1984, to make sure they are safe.
This is part of our ongoing work to address safety and reliability risk across the electricity network in Dunedin, Central Otago/Wānaka and Queenstown Lakes as part of our five-year investment plan.
We will make sure any power poles, lines and associated electricity assets are in a reasonable standard of maintenance and will upgrade or repair them where needed. After this, the ongoing responsibility for maintenance will be with the property owner and we recommend that you arrange a further inspection of the assets within the next five years.
Property owners who have known customer service lines will be notified before Aurora Energy starts inspections. Please note this project will start during winter 2024 and is likely to take a couple of years to complete.
Frequently asked questions
Power poles that are part of customer service lines will be tested differently depending on what they are made of and where they are installed. This will be done by either:
- A non-evasive acoustic test
- A visual review of the pole/s and lines and recording the information
After the inspection, we may place a tag on the pole if any repairs are needed. This colour-coding helps us prioritise the work.
If immediate repairs are required, we will contact you to arrange for the work to be carried out either before we leave your property or in the near future.
Aurora Energy will repair or upgrade the customer service lines at no cost to the property owner if the inspection shows that repairs are needed. Please note, this only relates to known customer service lines built before 1 Oct 1984, as part of this inspection project. After this, any future maintenance costs will be the responsibility of the property owner.
Yes, we are happy to discuss options with you. Please be aware that any additional upgrade costs to do this over and above the like-for-like replacement will be at your own expense.
While we have a project plan, we won’t know the extent of any repairs needed until we start the inspection so it’s difficult to have a set timeframe. Rest assured, we will be in touch with you directly if we need access to your property to inspect customer service lines.
We are here to help. Please contact us and we can look into this for you. If it turns out you have a customer service line that is not part of our current inspection project, we will record your details. Once the inspection project is completed, we will have a better understanding of customer service lines that had not been previously recorded, and will then be able to decide what the next steps are.
This is specified in The Electricity Act 1992.
Prior to 1984, it is unclear how many lines companies and their predecessor organisations managed the separation between customer service lines and the network. The Electricity Act 1992 outlines the process a lines company can take to clarify that future maintenance responsibilities for low voltage electricity assets (such as poles) on private property sits with the landowner. Many lines companies now specify the difference between assets owned by the lines company and those owned by the property owner.