Power was restored to thousands of customers who faced a significant power outage in the North Island yesterday.

Transpower says it has restored a circuit that was affected by a lightning strike – cutting off electricity to all of Hawke’s Bay and Tairāwhiti.

It says it is now working with local lines companies to gradually restore power throughout the region.

Lines provider Unison estimates up to 55,000 customers have been affected.

However, power outages have now spread to the South Island as well.

Alpine Energy says outages due to severe weather struck at 4.30pm.

Affected areas include Fairlie, Burkes Pass, Kimbell, Middle Valley, Mount Dobson, Mt Michael, Opuha, Sherwood Downs, and Tripp Settlement.

“Our crews are currently investigating and working hard to restore power to you,” it posted to Facebook.

“Please treat all wires as live, as normal power supply could be restored at any time.”

A Transpower spokesperson says a lightning strike on their network possibly caused a power outage to most of Hawke’s Bay.

Outages were reported in Gisborne, Taupō, Napier and Hastings.

They said the 220kV lines that feed the Hawke’s Bay area were brought offline right now, and they were working with line companies to reconnect them.

They believed the outage affected most of the Hawke’s Bay region, and they were looking into where else could be affected.

In Napier, staff from fast food restaurants have put up road cones closing off their drive-through facilities.

Shops, cafes and restaurants are closed across Hawke’s Bay.

Further north, outages have also been reported through Wairoa, and then up to Gisborne and on the East Coast.