The lack of power is affecting building access control systems and alarms, buildings have to have doors propped open so people can get in or out, so there's no real protection for the building contents. The services of private security firms are in great demand. By the end of the week the policing and security issues had been more or less ironed out, and the civil defence headquarters were closed as they were no longer needed. Since water and sewage rely on electrically-driven pumps to get them into office blocks and towers, these services often aren't available either. What little power is available is being used by emergency and civil services as far as possible, with other services like traffic lights being run if there's anything to spare.
Many office blocks have no power, water, or sewage services available.
Combine the lack of sanitation with abscence of airconditioning and you can imagine what conditions are like in parts of these buildings. There's a serious problem with food in restaurants spoiling due to the lack of refridgeration, with health inspectors out in force checking for compliance with safety regulations. The Ports of Auckland shifted 500 containers to Wellington for unloading before the goods in them spoiled, and the city council parked a large refridgerated container unit powered by a generator in a city square for use by restaurants to store frozen food, although it's unclear how much this will really help. Retailers were told to sell all they could before it spoiled and dump the rest. Provisional tax payments are due at the end of the week, inland revenue have so far indicated that they won't be making allowances for the fact that businesses can't make the payments until power is restored.