Genesis Energy left some customers without power

Genesis Energy, a New Zealand power company, left some of their pre-pay customers without electricity. Notably, this was a weekend during which it was also snowing and hailing.

Genesis says a pre-paid power account cannot be shut off over the weekend and instead customers just go into debt.

But a computer error has made it impossible for customers nationwide to top up their accounts over the weekend, so at 8am Monday some were cut off without warning.

(From TVNZ)

Cutting off a customer’s power is pretty significant, particularly during cold weather conditions. And on weekends, when customers may not have a chance to recharge their account balance. That is obviously, why company spokespeople seemed convinced that such a thing would not happen.