Business Central December 2021

| 23 Big gains in network performance T Kim Newth Our services www.linepower.co.nz | admin@linepower.co.nz | 19 Constance Street, New Plymouth | 0800 546 376 – Electricity Network Design & Engineering – Line Design (CATAN) & AutoCAD Drawing – Industrial, Commercial, Rural & Residential Power Supply – Faults, Repairs & Maintenance – Subdivision Reticulation – Power to Site – Streetlighting Design & Installation – ICP Creation & Decommission – Overhead Network Construction – Transformer Installations/ Upgrades – Overhead to Underground Network Upgrades – Horizontal Directional Drilling Management – No job too big or too small Locally owned and operated and providing solutions for the past 20 years Power to perform Power supply to all rural Taranaki primary schools has been checked, and upgraded where necessary by replacing poles, lines and cross arms, and undergrounding cables. Powerco DEVELOPMENT T to page 24 “We’re proud of the progress we’re making with our electricity investment programme and the benefits this work is bringing to our customers.” F our years into a massive poles and lines investment programme, Powerco is making significant progress in deliver- ing better outcomes to their customers by strengthening the reliability and resilience of their electricity network. Since launching their five-year Customised Price-quality Plan (CPP) investment pro- gramme in April 2018 to renew and future proof ageing electricity network infrastructure, Powerco along with their field crew compa- nies have been hard at work upgrading their network. “We’re proud of the progress we’re making with our electricity investment programme and the benefits this work is bringing to our customers,” says Powerco Acting Chief Execu- tive Chris Taylor. Powerco is one of the largest electricity and gas distributors in New Zealand, keeping the lights on and gas flowing to more than one million customers – across 452,000 homes, businesses and organisations - in the North Island. Sustainability is a driving ethos across five key operational areas: resilience/reliability, contributing to a lower carbon world, health and safety, supporting their people and com- munity engagement. Network resilience is moving ahead in leaps and bounds. In the past three years, Powerco has invested $469 million in renewing and upgrading their electricity network. In the latest financial year, 4811 power poles have been replaced or reinforced (up 18% on the year before); 234km of overhead power lines have been replaced (up 28%) and more than 14,300 sites affected by trees and overgrowth have been managed (up 30%). (Trees growing close to power poles and lines are a leading cause of power cuts each year, hence the focus in this area). “We’ve worked hard to deliver on our invest- ment promises and we’re pleased with our strong delivery numbers, capital expenditure and number of assets replaced during the past year – especially given the challenges of the COVID-19 environment.”