Power outages have been reported across various regions. Photo / 123rfPower failures are affecting large swathes of the North Island tonight after electricity demand hit a record high. Up to 20,000 households are understood to be without power after high winds brought down lines and cold weather saw power use surge beyond generation capacity. Wel Networks, which supplies power to the Hamilton area, said there had been insufficient generation to meet New Zealand's electricity load demands. Photo / Supplied"This means that we are having to conduct a series of rolling power outages across our networks in Hawke's Bay, Taupō and Rotorua.

Source: New Zealand Herald August 09, 2021 08:31 UTC