Outcome

The HCA has continued to be open to responses and feedback in relation to this survey. However, following analysis of the bulk of responses, the HCA committee decided at their meeting on 21st September 2021 that there is not enough community support for this project for further work to be done.

Update 26/11/2021:

We asked Aurora to give us more information about the St. Bathans project.

Response from Aurora Energy:

Aurora contributed the full project cost ($271,000) for the St Bathans project and it happened in conjunction with Chorus and removing their assets off our poles.

It was a one-off initiative and is not our usual policy to fully fund overhead to underground conversions.

For further context..

The network that was underground in St Bathans was also on the low voltage cable only.

The section of the Lake Hawea network along Capell Ave/ Lakeview Terrace is a combination of both high voltage and low voltage network and therefore you can’t really compare the costs.

High voltage network distributes power (not just supplying one or two homes) so more infrastructure is required and costs are significantly higher.

In St Bathans, we removed 11 poles, undergrounded 400 meters of lines, and undergrounded 6 house connections. If you used the average price of a pole (referencing our CPP pricing) then it would come to $137,000 for the 11 poles we removed.

In comparison, Lake Hawea is around 2.4km from the start of Capell Ave to the end of Lakeview Terrace with closer to 200 properties to underground and a significant number of poles to remove.

Our position remains the same, we are happy to commit to contributing $180K per km in Lake Hawea based on avoided overhead renewal costs.

Update 30/10/21:

Following feedback received we have added more data to the report which is specific to the responses of ratepayers and / or residents of the affected streets in relation to willingness to contribute funding of the project:

Of the respondents who are ratepayers on the affected streets only 28% would be willing to donate other funds (i.e. funds unrelated to the undergrounding of lines on their sections) to the project. 59% would not be willing to contribute. 3% would be only be willing to if Aurora contributed to 50% of the project and 10% left the question blank.
Of the respondents who are ratepayers on the affected streets only 28% would be willing to donate other funds (i.e. funds unrelated to the undergrounding of lines on their sections) to the project. 56% would not be willing to contribute. 2% would be only be willing to if Aurora contributed to 50% of the project and 14% left the question blank.

The HCA feels that while 70% of respondents who were ratepayers / residents of the affected streets did want the project to go ahead, there was far less willingness to financially contribute to the project themselves. Only 54% stated they would pay for the cost of undergrounding power on their sections, and only 28% stated they would donate funds to the project separate to the undergrounding on their own sections. There were only 7 respondents in total (from anywhere in Hawea) who stated how much they would contribute to the project (these were already listed on the report). This included persons contacting the HCA directly and through survey responses. With the overall unwillingness of residents / ratepayers to put significant funds toward the project, the large bulk of the funding would need to come from other means. For this reason we would need to see a great deal of support from the whole community for the project before spending more time on it.

Questions to HCA in relation to Powerlines undergrounding, AGM:

Questions and feedback from a Lakeview resident:

Why does HCA disregard the result of 70% respondents from residents and ratepayers of Lakeview Tce WANTING the project to go ahead.? This result at least warrants further investigation. Surely the effected residents should have a major say in this survey rather than those that are not interested in what our village mainstreet looks like.This whole survey appears to be slanted towards "other more important" projects which in our view is not a democratic attitude in treating respondents equally.

I agree with the comment: “Can you find a way of registering the number of people like me who feel the same way? Then we will have an idea of how many are keen to have the work done and pay towards that part of the total cost.” and perhaps it would be more relevant for residents of effected streets to be handling this survey.

Extra Information and Misconceptions to clear up

Reading the comments and feedback received via the survey, email and letter we would like to note the following:

Footpaths

The costs included in the estimated $3.2 million for the project did not include the additional costs of upgrading the footpaths. We do not have to underground the lines to lobby for the footpaths to be upgraded, but there is logic in both being done at the same time if they are both going to be done at some point.

Street lights

If the powerlines are undergrounded then the street lights have to be upgraded / changed because many of the street lights are on the power poles
- The estimated $3.2 million included the costs of new street lights, however, it included the costs of standard street lights. It may cost more to get some of the special street lights people mentioned in their feedback (such as bollard lights.)
There is the possibility that the new street lights, which would all be uniform in height, could obstruct some views for some houses.

Who has paid for other lines to go underground in this area?

The district plan dictates whether land to be developed has to have powerlines undergrounded. The bulk of the costs of undergrounding lines to and within new developments is paid for by the developers. (Presumably they ensure they cover these costs when they state the price of the sections.)
When a person purchases a section and builds a house on it, they pay for their connections. In other words, they pay to underground the powerlines from the street to their building platform.

Can we get Aurora to contribute more to undergrounding the lines?

In relation to undergrounding powerlines which are already above ground we found the following quote from Spark, Chorus and Vodafone: “It is not appropriate for the district plan to require progressive undergrounding of existing established infrastructure that may have substantial economic implications and may not always be technically or operationally feasible” (www.odt.co.nz/regions/queenstown-lakes/claim-views-adversely-affected-power-lines).
- We have not gone further into investigating whether we could lobby QLDC to require current infrastructure with overhead lines to be put underground
Please see feedback from Aurora below which explains why there have been projects in the past where Aurora undergrounded lines which were previously above ground, but equally why that will not happen now.
While it is true that underground lines have less frequent faults, when there is a fault, the fault is harder to find and costs more and takes longer to fix. See Aurora feedback below. This is backed up by what we have seen other companies say.

Can we get QLDC to pay?

Response from QLDC in relation to our potential powerlines project: “QLDC does not currently have budget for this work, but an avenue for this to be considered would be for the Hāwea Community Association to make a submission to next years Annual Plan. Consideration should also be given to resilience implications, as this is a seismically active area and it is easier to reinstate posts rather than underground lines.”
If we do get QLDC to contribute to this project it is likely to affect our rates, and potentially all Hāwea rates, not just the rates of those on the affected streets, so we would hope to have strong support for the project from the whole community.

Do we have strong community support for the project?

Only 54% of respondents who are ratepayers on the affected streets are willing to pay for the costs of undergrounding from the street to their houses (i.e. their own connections). Only 50% of all the survey respondents who want the project to go ahead are willing to donate other funds (i.e. unrelated to undergrounding on their own sections) toward the project. Only 28% of respondents who are rate payers of the affected streets and only 28% of respondents who were either ratepayers or residents on the affected streets were willing to donate funds to the project outside of the costs relating to undergrounding the lines on their sections. There was a very small number of respondents who specified the funds they are willing to put toward the project.

Aurora Feedback

Is it a legal requirement for new subdivisions to underground their electricity supply? And if yes – since when?

Requirements for infrastructure are specified in District Plans. Would recommend speaking to the Queenstown Lakes District Council, which will be better placed to provide an authoritative answer.

Who pays for undergrounding new builds?

All new connections are largely paid for by the developer or new customer, in accordance with our capital contributions policy.

Are you investing across the network?

Aurora has a large investment programme underway to improve the safety and reliability of the network. See this map on the last page - it shows the breakdown of improvements from Dunedin, across Central Otago and the Queenstown Lakes from April 2017 – March 2021.

When you’ve done undergrounding before, why did this happen?

Aurora had an historic discretionary policy in place for funding undergrounding of portions of the network to improve visual amenity values. Aurora would contribute half the cost of the undergrounding, to a maximum annual value based on a proposition of distribution charges, at the request of local authorities – providing these authorities paid the other half.
- Between 2004 – 2009, at the request of the Central Otago District Council - we jointly-funded $802,000 worth of undergrounding in Cromwell, Bannockburn, and Tarras.
- At the request of Queenstown District Lakes Council, we jointly-funded the undergrounded a section of Frankton Road in Queenstown in 2002 and Brownston Street in Wanaka in 2012.
Aurora’s investment needs increased over time, with growth and renewals placing pressure on investment funding to the extent that visual amenity projects could no longer be supported. Accordingly, the discretionary policy is no longer in place.

If the lines are underground, won’t they be cheaper to maintain?

Generally underground lines do require less maintenance and usually suffer fewer faults, but cable faults are much harder to locate (therefore more expensive) and much more expensive to repair.

The Survey

www.haweacommunity.nz/news-and-updates/should-we-underground-our-power-lines

Online
We shared the survey online through our website and Facebook page and further shared links to the survey on other local Facebook groups and pages.

Letterbox Drop
We dropped a copy of the survey into every letterbox on the affected streets, into all the Po Boxes at the Hawea Store and Kitchen and left copies of the survey at the library.

Email
We notified our full mailing list of the survey and Errol Carr added a link to the survey in his newsletter

Response

We had 88 respondents to the survey, of which 41 were not residents or ratepayers on the affected streets, 22 were both residents and ratepayers on the affected streets, 17 were ratepayers but not residents on the affected streets and 8 were residents but not ratepayers on the affected streets. In total 47 of the respondents were residents and/or ratepayers on the affected streets.

Knowing the estimated cost of the project: 48 would like the project to go ahead, 37 do not want the project to go ahead, 1 respondent would only like the project to go ahead if Aurora willing to pay 50%, and 2 respondents did not answer this question. While a higher portion of residents / ratepayers of the affected streets want the project to go ahead, a higher portion of respondents who were not residents / ratepayers of the affected streets did not want the project to go ahead. Initially, we did not ask non-residents / ratepayers of the affected streets to confirm whether they were residents / ratepayers of elsewhere in Hāwea. However, we did only publicise the survey in the Hāwea area.

Streets which should be undergrounded

Interesting, even through it is Capell and Skinner which Aurora has agreed to contribute toward, it is Lakeview that a larger portion of respondents wanted to see undergrounded. This may be due to a small number of respondents thinking the section of Capell Avenue from Domain Road to the start of Lakeview Terrace is part of Lakeview Terrace. It may also be due to the higher proportion of Lakeview Terrace respondents to the Survey.

Footpaths

Of all the 88 respondents 59 responded that if the project was to go ahead we should lobby for the footpaths to be upgraded at the same time. (The estimated project costs provided in the survey background information did not include these costs.)

Of the 48 respondents that want the project to go ahead, 14 of them responded their support of the project is reliant on the footpaths being upgraded at the same time.

Respondents willing to make financial contributions to project

Of all the 39 respondents who were ratepayers on the affected streets just over 50% of them (21) were willing to pay for undergrounding of the lines from the street to their houses. 11 were not willing to pay for this. 7 did not answer this question, but 2 of those respondents stated they already had the lines undergrounded from the street to their house on their sections.

At this point it could be mentioned that when a person purchases a section in a subdivision in Hāwea and builds a house on that section, they pay to connect power to their building platform. However, generally people expect this cost and accept it as a cost of building a new house.

Of all the 48 respondents who want the project to go ahead, half did not want to make any financial contributions / donations toward the project beyond street to house connections.

Of all the 39 respondents who are ratepayers on the affected streets only 11 were willing to donate other funds to the project (i.e. funds unrelated to the undergrounding of lines on their own sections). 23 were not willing to donate other funds and 1 was not willing to donate other funds unless Aurora funded 50% of the project. 4 did not respond to this question.

Of all the 47 respondents who are ratepayers or residents on the affected streets only 14 were willing to donate other funds to the project (i.e. funds unrelated to the undergrounding of lines on their own sections). 28 were not willing to donate other funds and 1 was not willing to donate other funds unless Aurora funded 50% of the project. 4 did not respond to this question.

We asked respondents to identify the value of further funds they would be willing to donate toward the project. The table below has all the responses received:

Survey Response Comments

Comments from respondents against the project

An unnecessary project. There is no benefit to the wider community and the current residents. A better view for some? Aurora has been financially mismanaged and has much more urgent priorities in its area. Have Dunedin ratepayers have benefitted from the mismanagement and could they be asked to contribute?
Aurora's contribution is not going to be very much, so the bulk of funding will have come from residents. The estimated cost will as usual be far more than the initial indication, so there is no way of knowing what the final cost to residents will be.
Capital costs of power upgrades should be paid by the electricity infrastructure owner and appropriately costed and charged to customers rather than home owners stumping up such huge amounts of money. Once again Auroras lack if infrastructure investment is being shifted inequitably to a small number of home owners.
committing the effort, good will, and other resources of the community to raise 1.8-2m for a small number of properties on the front seems likely to be a negative experience for many in hawea. Don't we have better causes for our efforts?
Considering the issues facing the town, this amount of money being spent on something that is basically superficial is ridiculous!
Hawea doesn’t have the ratepayer base to provide for this frivolity. The cost of the sewage system and govt three waters will be enough to bury us.
I believe that by 'taking on' a project like this, we play right into the hands of those who have responsibility for same. We pay QLDC rates. Hawea has had very little infrastructure upgrading in the past, with little curbing and channeling. Sewerage upgrade should have come from developers contributions. Hawea has not had our fairdue for years.
I don't feel like an aesthetic project at such great cost should be a focus right now when there are other aspects of our community which would benefit far more from fundraising etc
I see other projects which will bring benefits to the wider community as being more important. This is an infrastructure project that should be completed by the power company.
I see sewage , and playgrounds as significantly more important to our community than underground power lines that I believe are less safe and more difficult to repair in the event of a major earthquake
I think this will be a huge waste of money, it has been considered over and over with the same outcome that only a handful of people would benefit. If we are raising money towards this I think our energy would be better place towards something that would support the whole community
I would prefer to see funds going towards infrastructure such as pavement improvements, playgrounds in green spaces, development of entrances to Hawea.
Is there any other choice but Aurora to deliver the changes?
It sounds unaffordable and only affecting a small part of Lake Hawea. I hope that any new subdivisions have underground lighting however.
Make sure the people concerned can pay 4/5k. Don't assume. Remember our line charges are going up by $800/1000 a year due to the dishonesty of the Dunedin City Council and that line Company
More expense borne by community to improve views for select few.
New sewer system and 3 waters is enough.
Not in favour of this project of putting power lines underground at the expense of the households that live on the effected streets especially as the cost is not a finite amount. Would not commit to something which could balloon out cost wise. Why are we being asked to fund something when other people in the community have not had to contribute to their power going under ground. The power lines are working as they are.. Yes it would be nice if they were underground but there are more pressing things that need to be addressed like footpaths and sewage and storm water/water leaks.
Surprised that there isn’t a question that asks the following… as a Hawea resident, relative to the fundraising coming from other sources of $2m…. Do Hawea residents consider that fundraising of $2m by the Hawea Community.to be the most appropriate expenditure to enhance Hawea for the benefit of everyone in the Hawea Community. Happy to be involved in fundraising efforts in the community but seems that this $2M is limited to a small number of property owners and removing the ugly visuals of overhead powerlines. Why would Hawea residents in the Flat, Timsfield or Sentinel Park want to contribute? How would underground powerlines benefit them? Potentially the community would be more engaged with a decent sports ground for the kids. As the area grows we need to be mindful of fundraising and contribution fatigue and perhaps before committing the effort of fundraising for underground powerlines … firstly spend some time understanding at a greater level…and… asking the question…what does the Hawea Community want to fundraise for.
The costs outweigh benefits and the community moreover the effort involved in fund raising could be better spent on other issues which benefit more people in the community.
The lines companies should be footing the bill for this. They have done so in other areas, why would they not for Lake Hawea? The project should definitely not go ahead for any areas they are not covering as they would need to pay for an upgrade in the future anyway I would think.
The underground power will only benefit the houses that are on those street. If the want people living int the streets want it they should pay for all of it. This seems very similar to your objections to new housing development and the only thing that came out of it was people on existing properties could get a zone change and subdivide.you still didn’t stop it. Seems it’s all about a few people getting financial benefit at a cost to others. Time you think about what the true motive is for underground power. Also you should look at how many people you actually represent. Seems at your meetings most are retired or have something personally to gain. You do do a great job but sometimes you get used to further personal agendas.
This is a very expensive project that will improve the view of a few residents. Much better to direct funds to projects that benefit the whole community
Timing is poor, sets a precedence of expectation for future utility upgrades. There is a history of this with QLDC as some home owners have already contributed to utility upgrades. The power company will be rubbing their hands in glee! Very unfortunate for those in effected streets who may not want/able to contribute.

Comments from respondent who is against project unless Aurora contributes 50%

Lighting

Comments from respondents who want the project to go ahead

All new areas of the township have underground lines and these are the streets with a view and would suggest higher rates
As a rate payer I am happy to have a rates addition to support the underground placement of all power lines in Hawea. I also support the new sewerage project
Consider levy for all residents Hawea area
I asked in the office of appropriate power company in 1978. "When will the power be put underground", "Not in your life time sonny" was the cheeky answer. Well I'm still here waiting
I think the powerlines underground would greatly add to the beauty of the Hāwea village and surroundings. It is an expensive prospect when looking at proposed rate increases and the added cost of getting lines to houses as well. I think it is something that would be good to have done and the longer we wait the costlier it will become. So hopefully we will find some generous donors to assist us. Unfortunately I am not in a position to donate extra funds at this time.
I undergrounded the supply to my home in Capell 28 years ago.
It will cost less in the long term for maintenance so why the hefty cost to residents? Especially with the winds we get. They are also such an eyesore and old technology. I've always felt the views around Hawea are ruined with these bloody lines.
My house has underground to house. Q4 does not apply.
Negotiate a better contribution from aurora and / or bring forward expenditure on Lakeview that might be budgeted for future years.
No mention of lighting
Power lines in front of & to our house were put underground by owners 30 years ago - so project of no benefit to us, but it is of benefit to village and environment
so we support it
The foot paths do require attention but we feel the poles should be removed first otherwise their removal at a latter date will damage the footpaths. With the poles removed the line of new footpaths will be easier aligned. Cheers Greg & Jill McIntosh
The project should be for all of the main street as priority and Skinner Cres/Capell Ave back areas deferred
This is important to beautify the town. It will also stop or slow down the ability for cell towers to be erected along these roads.
This proposed project would remove a large concrete power line from close to our driveway and also eliminate the horrendous noise caused by power lines close to the house.
we need a smart looking main road in Hawea. Footpaths and guttering needs to be done and QLDC should be paying. Then we can work on the side streets.
Would like to hear more
As a Hawea resident, not living in one of the affected streets, I would still love to see the mess of poles and lines cleared and would be willing to pay a modest amount. I suspect that many others share my view but are saying to themselves, ‘If I am going to chip in, others should pay as well, to make it fair. How do I know how many householders of those who live in other streets are willing to pay and how much?’
I would be willing to contribute up to $500 but on condition that before committing the money, we can all have an idea of how many residents in our situation are saying they are willing to contribute.
Can you find a way of registering the number of people like me who feel the same way? Then we will have an idea of how many are keen to have the work done and pay towards that part of the total cost.
One other improvement I would like to suggest is that if the lines are under-grounded and street-lighting reinstated, that they are replaced with lighting bollards. There are residential streets (I’ve lived in one, where this has been done and it’s an enormous improvement on unnecessarily tall poles where the light protrudes into people’s houses). There is no need for lighting to spread so widely in our community for safely or any other reason and it would be a modest contribution towards having ‘dark skies’ again.