New Zealand / Energy

Power restored to thousands in Christchurch

21:05 pm on 18 October 2016

Electricity has been restored to almost all of the thousands of Christchurch homes and businesses that were hit by a power cut this evening.

Orion said on its website that about 4000 properties were without electricity in Beckenham, Merivale, St Albans and parts of the central city at one point.

A suspected cable fault was blamed for the blackout, which hit about 5.30pm.

By 8pm tonight, there were just a few dozen homes still without power.

Traffic lights around the city were also taken out by the cut: