Possum guards prove worth

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 11, Issue 515, 7 December 1993, Page 15

Possum guards prove worth

King Country energy thinks it may have licked its possum problem, thanks to a new type possum guard invented by a Kaitieke farmer. The power company installed the Don Dempsey-design possum guards on its Kuratau-Manunui feeder and immediately noticed a fall-off in the number of outages on this line. In past months King Country Energy has turned its attention to its Kuratau-National Park feeder, fitting nearly 300 of the guards to poles which the contractors say most had several dead possum carcasses below. Overall reliability figures for King Country Energy

have shown a steady improvement over the past four years and general manager Peter Till says this reflects the investment being made in improving the company 's network. More than $2 million has been spent in upgrading sub stations and lines, while a further $2 million is programmed over the next few years to replace the company ' s aging ripple control system. "We are committed to an ongoing programme to maintain the reliability improvements that have been achieved in recent years," Mr Till said. The number of minutes lost by any customer has dropped by half over the past four years to be, on average, about five minutes a month.