Counties Power Finalist in Energy Excellence Awards

The company is one of three in the running for the Network Initiative of the Year award at the prestigious Deloitte Energy Excellence Awards.

Counties Power’s award entry this year is the rapid design and construction of the Pokeno Substation and associated network development to meet the needs of the rapidly growing area.

Counties Power Chief Executive Judy Nicholl says from concept to completion, the project was accelerated to keep up with ever-increasing industrial and residential power demand.

“This has been the largest single project in the Company’s 95-year history, and one the Company is proud to have completed in record time, to a high standard and with a substation asset and power supply the Pokeno community can be proud of now and into the future. It wasn’t, however, without its challenges, including the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic disrupting supply chains, delivery times and efficiency so I’m extremely proud of our talented local team who drove and delivered this major project.  The fact we have been a finalist in these awards for three years in a row shows the level of projects we as a company are delivering, and the calibre of our people.”

“The Pokeno community and its large-scale industrial customers now have a high-quality power supply that will enable them to thrive. This project has opened up the Pokeno area for further industrial consumers who are reliant on a first-class power supply, which results in additional local jobs, increased exports and increased local and national economic prosperity.”

The entire network in the area has been upgraded, with a total of 13km of new high-voltage cabling installed. The project has transformed the quality, reliability, resilience and capacity of Pokeno’s electricity supply to meet the requirements of its high-tech industrial customers and residential subdivisions.

The company won the award for Network Initiative of the Year last year for INDI (Infrastructure and Network Data Interface), an on-line system that delivers automated fault identification and servicing.

The Deloitte Energy Excellence Awards will be announced at a black-tie awards ceremony in March 2021.