By Rachel Morton
The power's back on to more than 90 percent of those affected by a fault at the Huntly Power Station today.
The fault cut power in pockets from Wellington to Auckland and further north.
Transpower still hasn't found the cause of the problem.
It should have been the busiest time of the year for Westfield Lower Hutt, but 12 days before Christmas the lights were out, shops were closed and even Santa was nowhere to be seen.
"I assume he's in his room or gone home, but his cushion is still there so I assume he's in his room," one person told 3 News.
Wendy's Ice Creams were selling at half price before they melted, and it was all because of a fault at the Huntly Power Station which meant 30 percent of the North Island's customers were taken off the network.
"To protect the system we have to immediately reduce the load," said Transpower's Patrick Strange.
Other power stations have been contributing more to get electricity to most customers, because Huntly is still offline.
Transpower still doesn't know what caused the fault, which happened nearly six hours ago.
"Sometimes we can go out and see something broken or exploded in pieces everywhere, and sometimes there just seems nothing wrong," says Mr Strange.
"There'll be technicians pouring over it."
It's up to lines companies to decide who gets switched off; usually it's residents and small businesses first, not ideal for a cafe in central Wellington at lunch time.
"Can't pay, can't eat, I can't heat their food up, I can't make them a coffee, nothing," says George Apostolakis, operator of Italian on Cuba Café.
Thirty percent of the North Island was affected. One Wellington hairdresser chose to look on the bright side.
"We were very lucky we didn't have somebody in the middle who needed their hair rinsed, because it would have been cold and nasty, we have an instant hot water system."
Transpower is warning there could be cold showers for a few tonight. Lines companies can cut the electricity to hot water cylinders without cutting power completely. It's not sure when the fault will be fixed, and engineers are working on it.
3 News