Frustration over continued power outages in Canterbury tourist destination, Hanmer Springs

The town north of Christchurch has experienced 13 outages in the past year.

Mainpower has confirmed improvements are on the way - including a new tower near the Waiau Bridge and line upgrades from Culverden to Hanmer.

Hurunui councillor Tom Davies says the last unplanned outage was on a Sunday - an important time for trading.

He says there are five-thousand visitors to the town each weekend - who don't have much to do when there's no power.