THE number of hours attributed to unplanned power outages in Viti Levu has increased every year since 2023, with the first six months of 2026 already recording more outage hours than each of the previous full-year figures provided to Parliament.
Minister for Public Works, Meteorological Services and Transport Ro Filipe Tuisawau revealed the figures in response to a written parliamentary question from Opposition MP Jone Usamate.
According to the minister, unplanned outage hours increased from about 7319 hours in 2023 to 8246 hours in 2024, an increase of 12.7 per cent.
They rose another six per cent to about 8743 hours in 2025.
However, between January and the end of June this year, about 10,148 hours of unplanned outages were recorded – already 16.1 per cent higher than the figure for all of 2025 and 38.7 per cent above the 2023 figure.
Planned outage hours have fluctuated. They stood at about 14,202 hours in 2023, declined slightly to 14,054 hours in 2024 and then increased 15.2 per cent to about 16,189 hours in 2025.
For the first six months of 2026, about 10,285 planned outage hours were recorded.
Ro Filipe clarified that the figures were the total number of hours from multiple individual outages reported each day, rather than the number of hours the entire Viti Levu electricity system was without power.
The minister said causes of unplanned outages include heavy rain, lightning and cyclones, overgrown vegetation or trees hitting power lines, underground cables damaged during digging, vehicle accidents involving power poles, bushfires, vandalism and emergency shutdowns.
Planned outages, meanwhile, are required for work including grid extensions, maintenance, transformer installation, vegetation management and power-line upgrades.
