Water got into the house? Keep the power off
If floodwater has reached power points, the switchboard or anything wired in, turn off at the main switch only if you can reach it from somewhere dry. Don't switch anything back on that's been under water until a licensed electrician has checked it. If a line is down outside, stay at least 10 metres away and call 111, then Wellington Electricity on 0800 248 148.
What's different about power in Lower Hutt
Wellington Electricity owns the lines
Wellington Electricity runs the local lines for Wellington, the Hutt Valley and Porirua, around 176,000 homes and businesses. Its 24-hour emergency line is 0800 248 148, for fallen lines and damaged gear. Anything on its side of your boundary is its job, not an electrician's.
A floodplain held back by stopbanks
The Natural Hazards Commission, citing Hutt City Council, says the city relies on stopbanks and that their failure would be catastrophic. In the February 2004 storm the Hutt Valley flooded badly: hundreds of people were evacuated and 20 properties were declared uninhabitable.
Storms that take the power out for days
The August 2011 snowstorm cut power to 13,000 people across Lower Hutt, Whitemans Valley and Tawa. After the February 2026 storm, NZ Herald reported a Korokoro household still without power five days later, while Wellington Electricity worked through single-property faults one at a time.
1940s state houses, and plenty of them
In 1944 about 1000 state houses went up south of Naenae, many of them prefabricated in a factory. More state housing suburbs followed along the eastern side of the valley in the late 1940s. Petone holds the country's first state housing, the Heretaunga Settlement of 1906.
Houses, flats and a third renting
The 2023 Census counted 29,808 Lower Hutt households in separate houses and 9,009 in joined dwellings. Greater Wellington found the city gained about 5,000 dwellings between 2018 and 2023, and 33.17% of households didn't own their home or hold it in a family trust.
The jobs that come up most here, and why
Checks after a flood or storm. Water in a power point, a meter board or a cable under the floor can cause trouble that doesn't show straight away. An electrician tests the circuits and tells you what's safe to switch back on. When the street is back on and your house isn't, the fault is likely on your side of the boundary, and that's where an electrician comes in.
Old fuses and tired wiring in 1940s homes. Houses of that age often still have rewireable fuses (ceramic holders with fuse wire inside) and too few power points. An upgrade swaps fuses for circuit breakers and adds RCDs, the switches with a test button that cut the power if current leaks. A higher-capacity board is high-risk work in New Zealand, so a licensed electrical inspector checks it too.
Healthy homes work in rentals. Landlords need a fixed heater that can heat the main living room, and extractor fans that vent outside. Landlords and tenants can't do the electrical side themselves unless they hold a practising licence.
If it were our house in the Hutt
We'd find out first whether the house still has its original fuses, and get them replaced before adding anything new. Then we'd make sure every circuit has RCD protection. And after any flooding, we'd have the wiring tested before the power goes back on, even if everything looks dry.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.