How do I teach kids electricity safety?

Wellington Electricity offers a free electrical safety programme for children, called Stay Safe. For more information, click here.

I’m concerned about the state of a pole or power lines, what should I do?

In any instance where you’re concerned about damaged poles or downed/clashing lines, you should contact us immediately. Call 0800 248 148 to report the damage, treat any lines or cables as live and keep people well away from the area.

I can see a coloured tag on a pole – what does it mean?

We routinely inspect poles to identify any maintenance that may be required. Work is undertaken within the following timeframes, based on the corresponding tag colour:

With blue tags, any work required is considered low priority but serves as a reminder to our service providers and others working on our network to check the status of the pole before carrying out any work.

Green tags are used by Chorus on their poles.

I want to do some digging on my property – how can I make sure I don’t hit any cables?

Visit www.beforeudig.co.nz to request maps indicating the approximate location of underground services. Find out more here.

How close to one of your power poles am I allowed to dig?

Do not dig within 5 metres of a power pole without a Close Approach Consent. Depending on the depth of excavations, you may need additional pole supports to prevent the pole from collapsing. We can advise you and will provide supervision in some cases.

Is it safe to do maintenance on my house near where the power lines connect?

If you’re going to be working close to where the service line running from the pole connects to your house, you can arrange to get your power temporarily disconnected.

Just call your electricity retailer at least 2 working days beforehand to arrange a temporary disconnection, which we’ll then undertake free of charge. Note that your retailer might charge an administration fee to process the request.

I’ve received a card telling me my power has been left off for safety reasons – why is that?

From time-to-time, we need to carry out maintenance and repairs on the electricity network which sometimes involves us disconnecting power to an individual property or properties. Before the power can be turned back on, we’re required by law to undertake safety tests which usually requires someone to be at home, especially if the switchboard is inside the house.

If you’ve arrived home and found one of these cards, please call the number on the card and we’ll send out one of our field crew to restore your power.

Note that, if any faulty wiring is identified between our pole and your house, this is the property owner’s responsibility to fix and will therefore need repairing by a qualified electrician before we can turn your power back on.

What should I do if a cabinet in the street looks dangerous or is making a strange noise?

If you think something might be unsafe, please don’t hesitate to phone us on 0800 248 148 to report your concern. Remember to treat all equipment as live and, if you can, keep people away from the area until we arrive.

Is it safe to trim trees growing amongst the power lines on my property?

As a general rule, the line crossing your property that connects to your house (the service line) and the trees on your land are your responsibility to maintain. If the trees look to be closer than 4 metres from the service line, you’ll need the help of a qualified arborist or a temporary disconnection of power before you can safely trim the trees. Click here for more information.

How can I be sure that underground cable plans (reference maps) obtained via the beforeUdig service are accurate?

Despite best endeavours, there’s no way of guaranteeing the accuracy and completeness of these reference maps due to various factors, including things like natural ground movement. For this reason, there are additional industry-standard steps that you must undertake prior to excavation, as well as guidelines you’ll need to follow during. Find out more here.

Remember that our plans:

• are provided at no cost, but there may be a charge if our supervision is required
• are indicative, not to scale and provided for reference purposes only – locations and dimensions shown are approximate
• are valid only at the date of issue and are deemed to have expired after two weeks (14 days from issue)
• may not be representative of any works that have recently occurred in the vicinity
• show Wellington Electricity underground assets only, but this may not include the likes of:
  • bare copper earthing wires
  • buried cable loops
  • oil lines for subtransmission cables
  • service connections to consumer properties (these are typically privately owned)
  • obsolete or abandoned cables (although these should still be assumed to be live)
  • multiple cables where they are adjacent or at differing depths (may be shown as a single line)
  • cable depths (typically between 300mm and 1200mm, but can be present at ANY depth).

Am I able to get hold of discarded power poles for a project I'm working on?

Unfortunately not. Most of the poles we remove have reached end-of-life and in many cases may no longer be as structurally sound as they once were.

The majority of wooden poles will have also been treated with preservatives which could be hazardous if burned. With safety our top priority, we have therefore made the decision not to allow our poles to be re-used.