of the MidCentral District Health Board. The hospital is the major trauma centre for Palmerston North, Otaki, and the Manawatu, Horowhenua and Tararua districts. There were two private hospitals, Aorangi and Southern Cross. In 2012 these two private surgical hospitals merged and are now known as Crest Hospital. Electricity The Palmerston North Municipal Electricity Department (MED) was formed in 1924 to supply the city with electricity. The Manawatu-Oroua Electric Power Board (EPB) supplied the surrounding rural areas. Electricity was initially generated at the Keith Street power station until the transmission lines from Mangahao Power Station to Bunnythorpe substation were completed in March 1925. The Keith Street power station continued to regularly generate electricity until the Inter-Island HVDC link was commissioned in 1965, when it was relegated to standby duty before finally being decommissioned in 1992. The Palmerston North MED and Mawawatu Oroua EPB were dissolved in the late 1990s with the government electricity sector reforms. The retail business was sold to Genesis Energy while the lines business became part of Powerco. Today, Powerco continues to operate the local distribution network, with electricity fed from two Transpower substations, at Bunnythorpe and at Linton. There is now a competitive electricity retail market, although Genesis continues to be the dominant retailer in the city. Three wind farms are located on the Ruahine and Tararua Ranges bordering Palmerston North: Te Apiti windfarm, Tararua windfarm and Te Rere Hau Wind Farm. The three farms together have a maximum output of 300 MW. Natural gas Palmerston North was one of the original nine towns and cities in New Zealand to be supplied with natural gas when the Kapuni gas field entered production in 1970 and a 260 km high pressure pipeline from Kapuni south to Wellington (including a 27 km lateral pipeline from Himatangi to supply Palmerston North) was completed. The high pressure transmission pipelines supplying the city are now owned and operated by First Gas, with Powerco owning and operating the medium and low pressure distribution pipelines within the city. At the 2013 census, 40.5% of Palmerston North homes were heated wholly or partially by natural gas, the highest in New Zealand. Internet and telephone Fibre to the premises is being deployed in Palmerston North as part of the Government's Ultra-Fast Broadband programme. , the fibre roll-out in the city is 94 percent complete, with a 42.2 percent uptake rate. Water and sewage The majority