Power outage update: 2 September

As at 10.30am, Wed 4 Sept 2024

Powercor is sending crews to the east of the state to assist AusNet after this week’s wild weather.

Now that power has been restored to all of our customers, 43 field crew members, with a fleet of vehicles, including EWPs and a PERU, are assisting in the east of the state to get power back on to more than 19,000 AusNet customers.

We appreciate the patience, understanding and support of all our customers during these outages.

If you’re still without power there may be a defect at your property. Please contact us on our faults number on 13 24 12.

You can also find out more about the reconnection process here: reconnecting after a fault.

As at 10.40am, Tues 3 Sept 2024

Powercor has restored power to more than 153,000 customers across western, southern and northern Victoria following this week’s wild windstorms.

We expect to have power supply restored to the remaining 400 homes and businesses by late this afternoon.

More than 260 field employees are on the ground today, responding to 114 individual fault jobs,  rebuilding parts of the network and reconnecting power supply.

The current breakdown of outages include:

Area	Customers off supply
Geelong	152
Hamilton	11
Terang	14
Warrnambool	34
Portland	12
Echuca	57

We are continuing to keep customers updated on our progress and estimated restoration times through SMS, our outage map and our customer contact centre.

This has been a difficult time for many customers and we want to thank them for their patience and understanding as we finish our restoration work.

We have information available on our website about steps customers can take to reconnect power if their supply on their premises has been damaged during this storm. Visit www.Powercor.com.au/emergency

We would remind people to stay well away from fallen powerlines, always assume they are live and report them to us immediately on 13 24 12.

 

As at 2.30pm, Mon 2 Sept 2024

Powercor has restored power to over 100,000 customers as crews continue repairing the power network that was extensively damaged during last night’s wild weather.

Our crews are replacing power poles, rebuilding fallen powerlines and repairing other electrical infrastructure damaged by trees, branches and other debris.

Crews are responding to more than 470 individual fault jobs, including over 100 fallen wires.

 If people do see a fallen powerline, they should stay well away from them and report them to us immediately on 13 24 12. Please always assume a powerline is live.

Construction and repairs will continue into the evening and overnight as Powercor works to restore power to the remaining 6,712 customers without supply.

Wind speeds of up to 100kmh have continued to hit the south-west coast and Geelong, with crews still finding different faults across the region.

We have deployed extra crews and have cancelled planned outages to allow us to focus on restoration work.

We expect to restore power to most customers later today, however due to the volume of faults there will be some customers without power into tomorrow.

Current breakdown of customers without power includes:

Region	Customers without supply
Geelong	2571
Warrnambool	1309
Shepparton	988
Hamilton	716
Terang	687
Cobram	261
Ballarat	65
Portland	37
Echuca	56

We will keep customers updated via SMS and our outage map.

We know being without power is frustrating and we thank our customers for their patience as we work to restore power as quickly as possible.

Today we rolled out our mobile emergency response vehicle (MERV) to the St Albans Football and Netball Ground in Thomson, near Geelong to provide on-the-ground support to the community.

As at 7.30am, Mon 2 Sept 2024

Powercor crews are working to restore power to 34,600 customers across western Victoria after destructive winds caused extensive damage to parts of the electricity network.

The fierce winds, including gusts up to 120kmh, and storms have brought down trees and branches over power poles, wires and other infrastructure.

Extra crews are responding to more than 239 individual jobs. The hardest hit areas include Victoria’s southern region, the south-west coast, Geelong and the northern region including Shepparton.

If people see a fallen powerline, they should always stay more than 10 metres away from them and report them to us immediately on 13 24 12.

Winds are forecast to increase again later this morning and we’re urging people to take steps to prepare for power outages now.

We will continue to keep people updated via SMS and the outage map.

In some cases, the complexity and extent of network damage will mean it will take longer than usual to restore power to some customers. As our crews continue to assess the network, we will be able to provide further information about estimated restoration times.

Over the past few days, we’ve been monitoring these extreme weather conditions and have extra crews, control room operators, customer centre representatives and other resources responding as we focus on getting power back on to our customers as safely and as quickly as possible.