New underground electricity cable

By Paul Taylor

Residents in Arrowtown, Arthurs Point, Coronet Peak, Dalefield and Gibbston, along with Queenstown’s ski fields, can expect fewer electricity outages after the major upgrade of a power line.

Aurora Energy has spent 18 months on the project to install the new underground Arrowtown 33 kV distribution cable, that runs from Frankton to Malaghans Road.

The area was previously supplied by two power lines that shared the load between them, with limited access to an alternative electricity supply if there was a power outage.

In July 2021, one of the power lines came down across Shotover Bridge, cutting power to hundreds of homes and the skifield, as well as closing State Highway 6 for two hours, creating traffic chaos across the Whakatipu Basin.

Aurora Energy General Manager Service Delivery Richard Starkey said the new 33 kV underground cable will provide a number of benefits for the community.

“The new cable provides increased capacity to cater to the significant growth and new developments expected over the coming years,” he says.

“This is good news for local customers and businesses, in particular the ski fields, and will reduce the risk of significant outages due to more options to reconfigure the network if there is a widespread outage, thereby reducing the number of customers impacted.”

The Arrowtown line is supplied from Transpower’s Frankton GXP and supplies four zone substations (Dalefield, Coronet Peak, Arrowtown and Remarkables) that transform the voltage from 33kV to 11kV distribution. From there, 11kV cable distributes power to smaller distribution transformers.

The northern section supplies Coronet Peak ski field and residential/ commercial customers from the Arrowtown and Dalefield substation. The southern section supplies the Remarkables ski field, Wye Creek hydro station and residential/commercial customers from Arrowtown zone substation. The project was completed in June, ahead of schedule.

Starkey also said the new cable will help with the Increasing demand for electricity as more people move away from fossil fuels.

“More and more people are purchasing EVs and wanting more choice about how they use electricity, such as connecting solar to their home or business. The increased capacity the new line will provide is part of Aurora Energy future-proofing the network and helping people reduce their overall carbon emissions.”

Aurora Energy have been completing a large programme of work in the Arrowtown and surrounding areas as part of their five-year $500 million investment programme to upgrade the electricity network.

Starkey says the company thank the community for their patience while this important work continues to be carried out.

Over the next four years, Aurora plans to rebuild the Arrowtown zone substation, reconfigure the Arrowtown 11 kV distribution line, rebuild the Dalefield zone substation, and create a back-feed supply to Coronet Peak to Dalefield, which will provide electricity supply to either zone substation in the event of a power outage.

Charities feeling cost of living bite

By Sue Fea

Belts are tightening as astronomically high living costs bite, purse strings too, affecting those heavily reliant on the Wakatipu community’s hugely generous heart.

Charities around the country are apparently reporting lower donations and that’s certainly been the case locally, most help agencies say. KiwiHarvest Queenstown manager Gary Hough even says he’s noticed an apathy and ‘get a job and help yourself’ attitude emerging among some locals, for whom the generosity gestures are waning as more people face their own financial pressures. However, Gary says most of the 800 people they help weekly are families in full employment. Less surplus food is coming in and KiwiHarvest’s Central Lakes winter campaign has only reached $665 of its much needed $50,000 target in two months. Other local help agencies that rely heavily on KiwiHarvest for fresh produce and chilled goods are also feeling the pinch.

Baskets of Blessing’s Ang Gibson says, “absolutely all donations are down – financial and food”, meaning they have to apply for more funding from grants. “That’s normally the money we’d use for facility hire and storage, but it’s increasingly needed now to purchase good nutritious food,” she says. The decline in donations began in February, but demand is still huge, she says. “Increasingly, these are average Kiwi families with both parents working and they’re needing a lot of help. Everyone’s affected, not just one demographic.” There’s also been a lot of illness in the community, often financial and mental health struggles post Covid.

“People used to be able to make do but can’t now.” Grant funding received this year too wasn’t the full amount they’d requested due to increased demand from all organisations.

Baskets of Blessing volunteers turned out 3000 more meals for the year ending June this year than the previous year. They fed 5729 people in 2021 and 8256 last year. Food hampers doubled and gift baskets increased too.

Happiness House manager Lena Boss says winter’s been tougher. “There’s less fresh produce coming in and everything is so expensive.” Weekly food parcel needs have increased and there’s been more working holiday visa people seeking help, forced to take time off work for whatever reason, and not covered by NZ Government support. “We’re seeing more families, some long-term locals we wouldn’t normally see, saying they really need help, single parents too, often facing high rents,” she says. However, she’s grateful to the regular dried food donors and several local hunters who donate meat, venison, sausages and mince, all processed. Raeward Fresh also donates a large box of in date fresh fruit and produce weekly, and Ma Boulangerie and Fergbaker bread and pastries.

Hospice Store manager John (Boggy) McDowell says shop takings are up and he’s been trading very well with shoppers seeking the repurposed option, and clothing donations up too. “The vibe is the cost of living here is getting too high, particularly for the younger ones, and they’re donating their clothing before they leave,” he says.

Meanwhile, Salvation Army Director Community Ministry Andrew Wilson says their family stores have been finding it tougher this financial year, maybe due to staffing challenges. While there are always nay-sayers in every community he’s still heartened by the beautiful, wonderful caring people helping in this community.

Good Bitches Baking spokesperson Hannah Molloy says volunteer bakers for their Queenstown Central Otago chapter have increased from 34 to 51 in the last four months, supporting 10 recipient organisations. “People aren’t shying away. It’s really accessible. If you can’t afford it one month you don’t have to bake and we have a ‘Cup of Sugar’ Fund for any bakers struggling financially,” says Hannah. “The impact we hear from that tiny piece of baking is massive – a moment of respite or sense of connection if people are having a bad day.”

Central Lakes Family Services general manager Tina Mongston says everybody is feeling the extra stresses and pressures right now. Basic living costs and housing, even money to go to the GP, are all massive issues, she says. “When that happens people start trimming back on what they can give, whether that’s something physical or friendliness.”

“I don’t think there’s an apathy out there, but people’s energy is low. I don’t think they don’t care. They’re just working long hours with a lot on,” she says. While Centre client numbers are similar the issues are more complex, including finding housing, with separated families even choosing to remain living together because there’s no housing.

Tina’s noticed too that rescue food, especially fresh produce, is down quite a lot. “There’s more thought going into who gets food as there’s a shortage.” Even if money is tight, she urges locals who can, to give – “any little thing can go a long way”, and to volunteer every now and then to help pack or deliver.