As Auckland swelters in high humidity, lines company Vector says it has a series of power outages planned to complete a backlog of maintenance work.
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
It comes as more than 3000 people in the city isolate at home and thousands more work from home.
In a statement Vector says it has put off two-thirds of maintenance work during lockdowns which can no longer wait.
It says it understands time without power will be challenging for those isolating or working from home.
Vector says it will do everything it can to minimise disruption and in some cases households will get 10 days warning of a planned outage.
It says the repairs will reduce the impact of unplanned outages that occur under the red light setting, which can take longer to resolve due to the need for crews to work in smaller bubbles.
A Vector spokesperson said some outages have already begun and just under a quarter of the work will be done at night.
The duration of each planned outage will vary, they said.