Counties Power takes additional precautions to maintain electricity supply
The company has restricted access to their Pukekohe office with the majority of office-based teams working remotely, while field crews have implemented full ‘bubble’ working practices along with other safety precautions. Network controllers are working from individual locations.
Counties Power Chief Executive Judy Nicholl says safety is always the priority.
”With the new strains of the virus being so communicable in the community we thought it prudent as an essential services provider to take proactive steps now to keep our crews safe and on the job. We’ve separated and protected our essential crews and implemented all safety precautions feasible at the current risk level. We’re monitoring advice from the government and Ministry of Health and will be ready to action all steps required to ensure the safety of our teams while maintaining the safe and reliable delivery of our community’s power supply.” — Counties Power Chief Executive Judy Nicholl
The company has full teams of dedicated crews working 24/7 and at this stage will continue their standard work programme throughout all alert levels to ensure a safe and reliable electricity network for the region. Any planned shutdowns will be staggered across areas to minimise disruption to homes and businesses.
Safety practices implemented in the previous lockdowns have been refined and additional safety precautions taken to combat the more infectious strains of Covid-19.
The company asks the public to please maintain a two-metre distance from their teams and to be mindful of the safety of crews.
“If you feel unwell and require a crew to attend an outage please advise us beforehand so appropriate safety measures can be taken. It is critical that we all work to keep our highly-trained crews safe to maintain our region’s power supply,” — Ms Nicholl
Please be aware that due to safety protocols such as working in small team ‘bubbles’ and social distancing, some outages may take longer to be resolved.
The best way for the community to report a fault and to stay up-to-date if the power goes out is via the app – type app.countiespower.com in your smartphone internet browser. More information on the company’s safety precautions and working practices can be found at www.countiespower.com/covid-19. For information on shutdowns visit the app or website – www.countiespower.com/shutdowns.
Please call 0800 100 202 for all other enquiries or check the website www.countiespower.com.