By Tony Field
Smaller businesses in the upper North Island, including cafes and motels, are being allowed to start using natural gas again.
But larger businesses may have to wait until next week and losses will cost the economy millions of dollars each day.
Neither the pipeline’s owner Maui, nor the lines company Vector want to talk about compensation. They say their focus right now is on fixing the pipeline.
A small amount of Ricies cereal was coming down the production line at Sanitarium’s Auckland factory today, because the equipment is powered by electricity.
But most of the factory was sitting idle, as repairs continued on the gas pipeline at Whitecliffs.
That left Sanitarium catching up on other tasks – and put some export orders in jeopardy.
“One some of the export orders, where we have got specific packaging done for that, we basically can’t deliver at the moment because we haven’t been able to produce,” says Sanitarium spokesman Pierre Van Heerden.
Small businesses like cafes and fast food outlets are being allowed to start using gas again, thanks in part to good voluntary savings by residential users.
But it could be at least the end of the weekend before supplies are returned to larger companies.
Three of Fonterra’s processing plants are still out of operation, meaning farmers are still having to give away their milk or dump it.
The Institute of Economic Research estimates the outage is costing the country more than $40 million a day.
Many companies will have business interruption insurance, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will be covered for this week’s events. Some of those policies may exclude interruptions caused by outside suppliers such as a gas company.
Even if they are covered, insurers may not pay out.
“If it is due to bad maintenance or something, that creates a problem,” says Mr Van Heerden.
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