<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations . Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . (February 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations . Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . (February 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The 1998 Auckland power crisis was a five - week - long power outage affecting the central city of Auckland, New Zealand in February and March (southern summer) of 1998 . </P> <P> At the time, almost all of downtown Auckland was supplied with electricity by Mercury Energy Limited via four 110 kV power cables from the national grid at Transpower's Penrose substation, with two cables each connecting to two central city substations at Liverpool Street and Quay Street . The two cables connecting to Quay Street were 40 - year - old gas - insulated cables that were past their replacement date . One of the Quay Street cables failed on 20 January, possibly due to the unusually hot and dry conditions, although this did not warrant a crisis as the three remaining cables could still supply the central city . The second Quay street cable failed on 9 February, leaving only the Liverpool Street cables supplying the city . Due to the increased load from the failure of the first cables, these remaining two cables failed on 19 and 20 February, leaving the entire central city supplied by a single 22 kV cable from Kingsland, resulting in about 20 city blocks (except parts of a few streets) losing all power . </P>

When did auckland suffer a 5 week blackout