Unplanned Power Outages

Te Aponga Uira (TAU) wishes to inform customers and the wider community that two unplanned power outages occurred on Wednesday 15 April 2026, affecting different parts of Rarotonga during the day and evening. Both outages were caused by unrelated network faults.

The first outage occurred at 11:48am and impacted customers from Rangiura, Nikao through to Tereora, the Airport and surrounding areas. Power was restored by 12:08pm.

The second outage occurred at approximately 7:47pm, affecting areas from Pokoinu, Nikao extending through Arorangi to Aroa. Our teams were immediately dispatched and worked to restore supply. Power was restored to all affected areas by 9:23pm.

Infrastructure faults such as cable faults reflect the ongoing challenges of operating in a harsh, tropical marine environment. TAU acknowledges that unplanned outages can occur from time to time, including mechanical and infrastructure-related faults, and continues to actively manage these challenges through ongoing maintenance, planned capital works, and upgrade programmes aimed at strengthening network reliability and system stability.

Chief Executive Officer, Lesley Katoa, said: “Our teams responded quickly to both incidents, identified the fault locations, and progressed repair work as soon as it was safe to do so. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the recent unplanned outages while our hardworking teams worked to isolate both faults and complete power restoration. Further, we will need to carry out two planned outages advised on our usual platforms. These planned outages are necessary to allow our teams to carry out work safely and minimise the risk of further disruptions. We thank our valued customers for their patience as we attend to this necessary work.”

Planned Power Outages – Nikao & Arorangi

Two planned outages will be undertaken to carry out urgent maintenance work as follows:

Friday 17 April 2026 – 1am to 3am

Affected areas: from Rangiura, Nikao through to Tereora, the Airport, towards Catholic Church Arorangi, and surrounding areas.

Saturday 18 April 2026 – 1am to 3am

Affected areas: from Joyce Peyroux, Arorangi, extending through Arorangi towards the King’s Representative’s residence, Papaaroa, and surrounding areas.

These planned outages are necessary to allow our teams to carry out essential work safely and minimise the risk of further disruptions.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and thank our customers for their patience and understanding.

If you have concerns about your appliances or sensitive equipment, we recommend unplugging them from the power point until power is fully restored, which will be communicated via our Facebook page.

Our teams are on call 24/7 to respond to faults. We encourage customers to be familiar with their connection number and to save our fault line: 25257.

END