It "wasn't acceptable" for Kiwis not to have power on one of the coldest nights of the year. "It was one of the coldest nights of the year last night and many families couldn't keep warm. "Last night, demand over the evening period reached record levels of around 7,100 MW between 6 pm and 6:30 pm," said Jay. He was unsure if the power outage affected anyone who was reliant on power for medical emergencies. Energy analyst Molly Melhuish this morning warned that surges in electricity demand were only going to become more common.

Source: Otago Daily Times August 09, 2021 19:52 UTC