When severe winds battered the motu late in October, our tight-knit Connetics crews mobilised within hours - deploying across the South Island and Lower North Island to support the wider electricity network.
Thanks to our strong team culture and event-ready approach, we were able to offer practical support well beyond our own network area. Our reputation for quality work and fast, safe responses meant our support was quickly taken up, particularly across overhead lines and specialist materials logistics.
Across the last two weeks, we were proud to have worked alongside several network partners:
- Orion: Our crews were active throughout the week responding to power outages, with most known issues within hours.
- Wellington Electricity: Two overhead crews worked across the week, and remained on standby over the long weekend as second-call responders.
- MainPower: Four crews were deployed alongside being able to provide additional materials via our logistics and supply teams.
- PowerNet: Three overhead line crews travelled to support their network’s work, allowing for a faster and more effective response.
In total, seven crews were mobilised, backed by support teams and logistics support - including materials from our event-ready stores. Throughout the response, we balanced urgency with the wellbeing and safety of our people.
“We’re really proud of the pace and willingness of our people to support our communities by supporting our customers,” says JT, Connetics’ CE.
“This was about helping our friends, whānau, and communities - restoring what we could, where we could, in the best ways possible.”
We received messages of thanks from customers, partners and operators which we recognise are a reflection of the professionalism and generosity shown by our teams in the field.
While restoration was a shared effort across the sector, Connetics was proud to play a role in triaging needs, mobilising early, and contributing to a fast, coordinated response that put people first.
(Team image courtesy of: Matthew Rosenberg, Local Democracy Reporter)
