Power outage - and Big Brother?

It was 8.30 in the morning and, click, just like that, the power went off.    In the past, the core balance device has occasionally tripped, but this time it was fine.    A neighbour was in his garden so I asked if their power was also out, but no, their power was fine.  And likewise, there was no problem for neighbour on the other side.

Thoughts of an expensive callout charge by an electrician on a public holiday crossed my mind.  But on closer inspection, there was no display on the smart meter.   So I rang Citipower, who told me that there were no problems in the area, but, yes, they could see that the meter wasn't functioning.  It seems that they can tell just what's going on at your meter.   Talk about Big Brother!

Hence, they sent their person around who fixed the fuse on the main line (where it's attached the house).

So, it seems that there can be some benefit in having Big Brother keeping watch.....???.