Nobody asked me, but ...who has got all our power?
There was certainly none of it in major parts of Auckland yesterday afternoon. A fire sparked underneath some pylons in a shelterbelt of trees on a non-descript Waikato property yesterday lead to major power disruption in Auckland and beyond.
Traffic lights went out - forcing police to control intersections - and more than 50,000 homes were left powerless and some businesses were forced to close.
For the past five years, Waikato landowner Steve Meier has being preventing Transpower against having the company's workers or pylons on his 13ha property at Matangi near Hamilton. The property has about six sets of lines running through it, including the all important Whakamaru-to-Auckland line.
Transpower has a right under legislation to enter properties to undertake maintenance work and has no legal obligation to compensate landowners as long as no "injurious effect" results.
Most media reports describe Meier as a ‘farmer’ and his property as a ‘farm’. Excuse me! But since when did 13 hectares (or just over 30 acres in the older parlance) suddenly become a farm?
From my reckoning, if that bearded bogan – seen having a spaze on national TV last night about the police unlawfully taking his gun – is making a living as a farmer off 13 hectares. Then he is no farmer, but a bloody miracle worker!
Meier, blames Transpower for the latest outage. Claiming he warned Transpower five years ago that a fire would happen on the land. Really? Funny that! Letting trees under a power line to grow near the wires and refusing Transpower access to trim them will do that!
Meanwhile, the aptly named Transpower chief executive, Patrick Strange says Mr Meier was the most difficult person in the country to deal with. No shit, Sherlock!
During the period of their feud, Meier has tried to get trespass orders against the grid operator, staged protests and attended Federated Farmer meetings with about 50 other landowners in the area upset at the company's refusal to pay for easement rights for hosting its structures.
Now current Auckland City Mayor John Banks – who wants the job for the new super city – has jumped into the fray claiming the disruption was the result of "under-investment, callous disregard by Government and reckless management by Transpower". (Say what you like about Banksie – but when he sees a political opportunity he is in boots and all!). Banks said it was a "Third World power supply" and Transpower executives "on their huge salaries" would be "held to account. I'll be talking to the Prime Minister and other relevant ministers about this".
However Energy Minister Gerry Brownlee summed up Mr Banks' reaction nicely as "a little bit over the top", given the problems the company had getting on to the farm.
Yesterday's incident couldn't be seen as a system failure, he said. "There was no failure as far as I can see of equipment. There was a fire. Whenever there is a fire, there is going to be potential for damage."
He said the fire was compounded by the Otahuhu power station and two other circuits being out of action for routine maintenance.
Brownlee has got this right. In my opinion, this is more about one person – Steve Meier – trying to screw money out of Transpower. Trouble is the law says Transpower can put pylons across land without compensation – just as it has on 20,000 properties across New Zealand . The pylons on Meier’s ‘farm’ have been there for 50-plus years. Meier only for 8. Methinks he was well aware of their existence prior to buying the property.
So what could all this be about? My guess is about Mr Meier trying to put pressure on Transpower and extract more dosh from it. The company is this year due to start an upgrade, worth at least $20 million, to increase the amount of electricity transported on the existing grid line. But it needs access to Mr Meier's property and is currently liaising with his lawyer. Bingo!
Good luck to him, but this greedy person shouldn’t hold the country’s largest city to ransom and expect any support or sympathy for his efforts.
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