Invercargill lines company PowerNet has received two Highly Commended awards at the national Emergency Media and Public Affairs (EMPA) Awards for how it kept customers informed after the October 2025 windstorm, it said on Tuesday 10 November.
The commendations were in the Excellence in Response category and the People's Choice section. They were presented at the EMPA NZ conference last week.
The awards recognise emergency communications work carried out in New Zealand over the previous year.
The storm struck around lunchtime on 23 October 2025, with gusts of up to 164km/h. PowerNet said more than 50,000 customers lost power, some of them for more than two weeks.
States of emergency were declared in Southland and Clutha. PowerNet said the storm brought down hundreds of poles and kilometres of lines on its Southland and Clutha networks, much of the damage caused by falling trees. Repairs cost about $7 million.
During the response and recovery the company posted dozens of updates on social media and its website, and through local and national media.
Each evening it signed off with a Facebook post themed on the Goodnight Kiwi, telling communities its teams would be back with more information the next morning.
Chief executive Paul Blue said the award reflected the effort staff put into supporting communities through the storm and the weeks after it.
"We couldn't necessarily tell people when their power would be back on, but we could keep showing up, share what we knew, and be honest about what we didn't," Mr Blue said in a statement.
"We know people really struggled without power for so long and, while our regular updates couldn't take away that hardship, we wanted people to know they hadn't been forgotten and our work to get their power back on was continuing."
Mr Blue said the public had also helped, by passing on information about what was happening on the ground and by encouraging crews.
"That kindness meant a great deal to staff working long hours, especially when it came from those who were without power themselves," he said.
It is the third national award for PowerNet's storm response. In June the PRINZ Awards, run by the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand, gave it a bronze in the category covering issues, crisis or reputation management. In August it was named Energy Distributor of the Year at the New Zealand Energy Excellence Awards.
Mr Blue said the recognition was shared with the company's mutual aid partners and contractors.
What happens next
In an update on 22 October, Mr Blue said the company had been investing in technology and reviewing its systems to build more resilience into the network.
"Extreme weather events will remain a reality for our region, so building resilience and being better prepared is something we all need to focus on," he said then.
PowerNet's outage list showed no unplanned outages on its networks at 7pm on Tuesday. Faults can be reported 24 hours a day on 0800 808 587, and current and planned outages are listed at powernet.co.nz/outages.
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