Why don’t I have hot water? | Power companies shutting off your hot water

Why don’t I have hot water?

Do power companies control your hot water? YES

Since the 50s, Auckland has had a load management system based on a ripple control system

This allows the electricity supply for domestic and commercial Hot water cylinders to be switched on and of.

This means the power companies can remotely control your hot water! 

Hot water runs on a different circuit from the rest of the property so during peak times or in power shortages it can be closed off by the power company

Are you having these problems?

1.       My hot water is not working but power is on

2.       Fuses are not blown but hot water is not

Why do they cut my hot water off?

Peak power times / on peak:

- Controls water heating when power usage is high

- During peak times the power company will control no more than 4 hours in a 8 hour period

Fixed time control / off peak:

- Turns on hot water cylinders at night when usage is at low levels and energy prices are cheaper

- This is when the cheaper tariffs kick in such as “weekend”, “day/night”, “night only”

Emergency control:

- Provides continuous power to the hot water without any control from the power company. Only interrupted to prevent or during outages 

How do they turn of my how water?

- Ripple equipment located within each local network signals to ripple control receivers at the property

- It can be done manually by the local network company when there is a local outages or requests to reduce demand from the operator

Some helpful links:

Mercury power: http://www.mercury.co.nz/terms/residential.aspx#InterruptionstoSupply_11

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Load_management

Vector energy: http://vector.co.nz/electricity/load-management

Feel free to contact us for more tips:
Nick Powell
LJ Hooker Onehunga
www.rentmyproperty.co.nz