Plus side, this fits with the loose structure I had for the TL throughout the winter of '84; I'm probably going to have to go and do some research first. *
shudders*
There's a fair bit of generation capacity along the Waikato; the summer of 83-84 was a wee bit drier than usual, but autumn made up for it so I'll take river flows as normal for my initial estimates. However, all but one of 2015's existing geothermal plants don't yet exist in 1984; this is at least 840MW of power less so yeah, rationing'll be the happening thing in the Bay of Plenty. Mind you, Huntly A can produce an extra 250MW with 90 days' notice, so there should be enough to start coping with the winter.
Looking at the maps, it seems like the transmission lines to Northland pass far enough to the south of the blast damage - through Onehunga and along to New Lynn and West Auckland - that power will remain on north of the isthmus. Ironically, the fact that all but one of the major lines passes through Otahuhu is a stroke of luck here; although it makes the area vulnerable to blackouts, it means that a nerve centre of infrastructure is safe.
Further south, it also seems that the lines between the lower South to points north are indeed only 110kV, compared to the heavier 220kV lines used for Manapouri's power load - so as Errolwi pointed out, this'll make shifting Manapouri's power further north a moot point until well after the more pressing matters have been dealt with. Assuming Ohau B is still completed (it was practically finished anyway, just filling), that's another 220MW coming online - but Ohau C may be delayed past OTL's 1985 date.
Your whanau'll be happy though Julius; power supplies south of the Waitaki'll be ample in this case - hell, it may be that there's an oversupply.
Any electrical engineers out there whose advice I might seek in future? I mean I'm next door to a university, but strangers on the internet are ever so much less fuss than strangers in real life
