Substation upgrades set to improve power reliability, capacity, and resilience for over 10,000 Ōpaheke Zone Substation customers.

As your local electricity distribution network, Counties Energy is responsible for managing the reliability of your power supply. We serve over 49,000 homes, farms, and businesses across the region – over 10,000 of which are powered by our second largest, Ōpaheke, substation.

Planning is currently underway for the replacement of the existing infrastructure at the Ōpaheke substation, which supplies a growing number of residential and commercial customers in the areas of Hingaia, Beach Road, Southern Papakura, Hunua, Rosehill, and Drury, with construction works planned for winter 2025.

This essential work will upgrade the current substation assets to align with the latest industry standards while also addressing any infrastructure condition issues.

How will this upgrade work impact customers?

We expect there to be minimal disruption for customers supplied by the Ōpaheke substation while these large-scale works take place. Our crews will install temporary infrastructure while they safely isolate and replace the existing assets – meaning there should be no disruption to the power supply other than short windows where our teams need to set up and pack down the temporary electrical equipment required to modernise the substation. Customers will be notified separately about planned outages ahead of time.

Once work on site begins, traffic surrounding the Ōpaheke substation will likely increase. We are putting a traffic management plan in place to manage this and will contact impacted customers with further details about any expected disruptions before commencing work.

Once this project is finished, there will be improvements in network reliability, safety, efficiency, and overall system performance. Our upgraded Ōpaheke substation will be a robust and future-ready electrical infrastructure – capable of servicing this growing region for many years to come.

What do affected customers need to do?

There are no actions required for customers whose power is supplied from the Ōpaheke substation.