New Zealand's electricity savings well short of target, warn

New Zealand -- Nationwide electric power cuts loom because New Zealanders are falling well short of the 10 percent power saving needed to avert blackouts, officials said Wednesday.

In the first 24 hours after the government called for 10 percent voluntary electricity savings, consumers managed only a 3.4 percent cut in usage, the Winter Power Taskforce said in a statement. Electricity suppliers began cutting power Wednesday to household hot water cylinders for up to 13 hours a day as the crisis deepened. Power blackouts could occur this winter in a "worst-case" scenario, the taskforce added.

Nearly three-quarters of New Zealand's power is hydroelectric. Water levels in lakes that drive power plants have dropped by about 55 percent after two years of dry weather. Natural gas supplies are under constraint because of lower-than-expected reserves at the giant Maui gas field.

Bill Hewitt, customer relations manager at network company Unison LTD, said the impact of water heating cuts was unlikely to be noticed if people were taking showers, whereas hot water could run out in households taking baths.