Bad weather has prompted Powerco to cancel an eight-hour blanket power outage scheduled for Whangamata today.

The electricity distributor planned to turn the power off to allow vital upgrade and maintenance work to be carried out on the 33kV circuit supplying Whangamata and surrounding rural areas.

But Powerco commercial manager Eric Pellicer says the heavy rain and strong winds has delayed the work.

'Our main priority is keeping people safe and, taking into account the less than favourable weather forecast and the terrain along the 26km line, we have decided to cancel the work for now.

'With the recent flooding in Whangamata, we also felt it was unfair to inconvenience residents further during this latest unsettled weather system.”

The major upgrade would have involved 100 Powerco contractors and was aimed at providing greater, ongoing reliability of the line and prevent future serious faults and outages.

By condensing the work into one day, Powerco had hoped to minimise disruption to Whangamata residents, says Eric.

'The work will now be carried out at a later date, to be determined in consultation with the Whangamata community.”

Powerco and Enterprise Whangamata's planned Power Out Party which was meant to take place this afternoon has also been canned.

'It's unfortunate, as we were really looking forward to getting the work done and being part of this fun, family event, but we are at the mercy of the weather.”