Electricity has been restored to almost all of the thousands of Christchurch homes and businesses that were hit by a power cut this evening.
Orion said on its website that about 4000 properties were without electricity in Beckenham, Merivale, St Albans and parts of the central city at one point.
A suspected cable fault was blamed for the blackout, which hit about 5.30pm.
By 8pm tonight, there were just a few dozen homes still without power.
Traffic lights around the city were also taken out by the cut:
Traffic lights all out on Colombo and Bealey #psa #chch
— Amy Glass (@amylouiseglass) October 18, 2016
Traffic lights out in Christchurch Central City. Chaos!
— SarahWD (@ceraahwd) October 18, 2016