Partnership with Downer continues

A new Electricity Field Services Agreement is in place between Powerco and Downer.

The three-year agreement which commenced on 1 July 2022 means that Downer will continue to provide outage responses across the Powerco network.

Powerco CEO James Kilty says the new contract is a sign of the strong relationship between the two organisations.

“Downer are vital to our work to connect communities, and they’re a key partner with us as we become a more customer-focused business,” he says.

“I’m looking forward to seeing the great working relationship with the Downer team continue to get better and better.”

Working closer

As part of the contracting process the two organisations looked at how to work more efficiently and serve customers better.

That’s why part of Downer’s Service Management Centre (SMC) team is now working directly alongside Powerco’s Customer Services team within Powerco’s Network Operations Centre.

When an outage is detected by Powerco’s system or reported by a customer, the Powerco Customer Services team informs the Downer SMC team who in turn dispatch field crews to site to repair the cause of the outage and reconnect customers.

Head of Network Operations Caz Haydon says integrating the teams is an exciting way of working smarter.

“I’ve always seen us as part of the same team delivering for our customers. Having the Downer team here will mean we can work together much more efficiently,” she says.
Downer’s Central North Island Operations Manager Wayne Field agrees.

“The teams will be better able to understand what each other does, and find better ways to do things together. The communication between the two will flow much more easily,” he says.