BANG! and there goes $10k !

Interesting day yesterday. The mains supply neutral wire to our house blew and sent 400 volts charging thru the earth cable. Blew a few things in the house and almost caused major fires. Repair bill estimated to be $10k as we have to run a new mains in, new switch board and re wire part of the house as there is some old rubber coated wires still in it. Plus replace the appliances. We cant just bring the mains from the pole in our place as it is now as the pole is un stable (result of earthquake we suspect) so have to run the mains from the road underground to the house. Bugger.

Don't you just love those unexpected huge bills which completely knock out a whole lot of other plans - or make a whole lot of other coping plans necessary?

Sounds like you were sort of lucky in the midst of the misfortune. Were you home at the time and was it rather loud?

Insurance???????

Change to Off Grid and Solar Power?

Awww, crickey!! that's a bugger!!

yeah, what about insurance? and who's cable was it? yours or the power company?

I ask because we have the situation that the supply cable for us belongs to the power company right up to the - what's that called? transformer?? - right outside the shed, and that is about 100m free swinging wire from the road to the shed.
Apparently, these days, the power company would only supply to the roadside frontage, and we'd be responsible for the other distance?

but our block is older, and apparently back then, that was different?

Ok, yes I was home thank goodness as there was smoke and sparkes flying from a couple of appliances. A bit exciting for a few minutes. As the wires come from the road pole,to a pole on our property then into the house meter the mains wires are our problem. We are insured. Just annoyed at having to replace the pole and go underground with the mains as the pole is unstable and wobbles - which it never did before. The earthquake was pretty nasty here so I am wondering if its moved the pole as it never wobbled before the shake. Will have to see. So everyone go check your poles.Lol.

Off grid sounds better and better. My husband was threatening a wood burning stove for cooking and heating and a generator! It would just about cost the same. So now the bills and quotes start and the insurance to deal with. Paperwork and more paperwork. Sigh.

Any chance if it was EQ related that EQC might be worth approaching? Sounds like it was land around the pole got shifted. Very scarey - glad you are okay!

Have approached EQC as the pole wasn't loose before the quake. I was in the garden a couple of weeks ago and as I have mobility issues I use the pole or its strainer wire to help me when I get up and down from the ground and I would sure as hell have noticed if the pole wobbled like it does now. EQC will be out in the next two weeks or so.

it could very well be directly related to the earthquake.
A few years ago a neighbour was being particularly objectionable and going out of his way to annoy us. He ran over the powerbox. (I did not know it was the powerbox). A week later it caught fire (and knocked the power off for the entire street while it was repaired - Saturday 7pm).
Sometimes it just takes a little bit of time before the damage kicks in.
Just sharing my experience.

My understanding was that the lines company as responsible for everything up to the meter-box - you say you had 400v through the system, which is high voltage so not wiring you or any registered electrician you might bring into the property would be allowed or expected to touch.

Have you taken it up with the lines company? Or even your power co. as they might be willing to tell you things your lines co. might prefer you not to know.

Have you considered replacing the pole ? We had to replace 2 poles when we built here and they were much cheaper than going underground. You could have a chat to Power Related Services in Masterton. Have you had a second opinion from another electrician ?

Anything crossing into the property and the pole in our property are our apparently our problem although I will double check. The cost of a pole and installation is dearer than going underground. The company who are quoting are reputable and do a lot of work in this area, although I will be doing a further investigation this week.

Damn annoyed as we have now found some problems with the house so I guess the earthquake gave us a bit of a shunt. Will be talking to EQC again this week. Sigh.