The Cherrywood Shopping Center (Tauranga) pre-planned power shut down has been and gone but where will the corporate giant strike next?
What planet are these guys on? Shutting down a shopping centre all day in this day and age is mindboggling. Most people agree that electrical power maintenance work has to be done. No right minded person would think differently.
However gone are the days where business closes on a Friday and reopens on a Monday – allowing such maintenance to be carried out - that’s simply historic.
Powerco is a lines company and they deliver the power throughout the region for the retailers, such as Trustpower, Mercury, Genesis etc. who sell it to us. In Tauranga Powerco are the only delivery company. They have the monopoly so can be bullies and do what they want. They are not NZ owned and in reality have no care in the world about us - the little people – well, little as they see us.
Powerco told shop owners they would rather take complaints than spend the money on consultation or provide generators - an interesting business culture indeed.
So what was the process taken to inform the businesses in Cherrywood that they would have no power on Sunday 21 August 201, to run their businesses? The process consisted of letters from the retailers, sent out with no coordination, stating power would be off on 21 August 2011. End of story.
In a commercial world it is reasonable to expect consultation, negotiation followed by consistent and coordinated, notification. But no, none of this happened. Is that reasonable? As the shops all use the different retail suppliers such as Trustpower, Mercury, Genesis, there was no consistent coordination or notification to the group of shops. Each company did its own notification, at different times. In fact the Cherrywood restaurant was the last to find out officially 13 days before the shutdown was to take place. The restaurant specialises in group functions and can take bookings months in advance so this was an issue..
It was only by chance that the restaurant was made aware of the shutdown, because of the local shop owners chatting amongst themselves – they had already had their notices from Trustpower and Mercury but Genesis, who the restaurant uses, were behind the eight ball on their notices. The Restaurant had a booking for fifty people on 21 August 2011, so when staff learned of the shutdown on Friday 5 August it caused consternation.
The maintenance Powerco were planning could not safely be done at night and it had to be done during the day. Powerco should have arranged an alternative supply (i.e. a generator) or consulted with the affected businesses to determine the most suitable time for all parties. Powerco would have been planning the maintenance for months, these things just don’t happen overnight.
Well the critics said the restaurant should stop complaining and get on with it and just get generator. But the critics do not understand the logistics and safety requirement of that. Getting a generator for the whole complex was the most practical and safest way (to meet OSH requirements) for the restaurant to connect to generated power. It’s a vastly different exercise to get a small generator to connect to lights and small appliances than it is to connect cool rooms, refrigerators, freezers and ovens. Getting a sufficient generator to provide the restaurant could have also supplied all the shopping block. Supplying the restaurant and including the shopping block requires professional expertise, so who better than to provide the generator but the power companies.
Its hard economic times and small businesses can ill afford a shutdown for a day. Even in the good times, how do we allow a big overseas company to operate, running roughshod over the small businesses? There was no consultation and when we spoke to them they refused to consider any alternatives. Other Lines Companies provide generators in such circumstances so what’s up with Powerco?
The Minister of Energy’s office, The Member of Parliament for Tauranga, Hon Simon Bridges, His Worship the Mayor, Stuart Crosby, The CEO of the Chamber of Commerce Max Mason and the Bay of Plenty Times editor, Scott Inglis, agreed with us. They all wrote or spoke to Powerco, but Powerco wouldn’t budge and then they got personal – that showed they were rattled but not enough to do anything positive about it.
The exposure had some affect though as on Powerco’s website they say ....“Think of us as the delivery people transporting the energy for the retailer consistently and efficiently to ensure that you can count on having the energy you need all day, everyday” and they quickly updated their webpage adding a disclaimer. Imagine a small business, in the PC world we live in, advertising a product or service and not providing it – some big official department would be on it like a ton of bricks. Come on Ministry of Consumers Affairs why have you not challenged these giants?
At Powerco there is no customer service as they don’t consider us to be customers. They say their customers are the retailers ie. Trustpower, Mercury, Genesis etc. In general the retailers say it is Powerco’s responsibility because they own the lines and undertake the maintenance. In reality no one is accountable to the customer/consumer.
After the shutdown and the article in the Bay of Plenty Times, Trustpower contacted us and said they thought Powerco’s actions were onerous and in the future they would consider providing a generator- and not all of the shops in the block are Trustpower customers. GOOD ON YOU Trustpower that is customer service.
