Kiwi men's love for beer fridges may be bad for country!

Wellington, June 11 : Kiwi experts have warned that an extra beer fridge many New Zealanders have should be discarded to prevent events of blackouts in the future.

Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority monitoring and research manager Robert Tromop points out that there are 1.8 fridges per household on average.

He says most people have second fridges, even though they are unnecessary.

"I understand the emotive connection to beer fridges, but right now you're not helping yourself, you're not helping the country," stuff.co.nz quoted him as saying.

Tromop says that people should make a list of electric appliances they have in their homes, and think about how to use each of them more wisely.

He suggests that people switch off all the items on the list before they go to bed.

"That's how households can get beyond the 10 per cent reduction," he says.

Independent energy analyst Molly Melhuish has warned that people may have to face blackouts any time.

She says that people should try to ensure they have power backup for important items like medical equipments, which need electricity to run.

She also recommends having an uninterrupted power supply device to give users time to shut down properly during power failure, and a plug-in phone for each house because a cordless phone would fail in a blackout.

There were brownouts in New Zealand in 1992, and hot water and street lighting were restricted.

Blackouts were avoided in 2001, 2003 and 2006 by heavy rain in the catchment lakes, but people had been asked to save powere before the downpours.

Melhuish said that blackouts could still be avoided, but they would be a "very painful" reality just in case a power plant or the Cook Strait cable failed.

"We could have a blackout at any time," she said.

ANI