Powercor reminds customers to ‘act now’ ahead of extreme weather this week

Households and businesses are being reminded to make preparing for power outages part of their emergency plan with severe weather forecast this week.

Destructive winds are expected across parts of Victoria, including the southwest, central and north-central region, on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Electricity distributor Powercor is reminding people that strong winds can bring down trees and branches over powerlines, damaging the electricity network and leading to localised power outages.

Head of Network Control, Peter Galey said Powercor was monitoring the weather closely and had increased the number of field crews, network operators and customer specialists ahead of the extreme wind.

“We work all year-round to make sure our network is as strong as possible and we are ready to respond and safely restore power if it does go out,” Mr Galey said.

“Losing power can affect your community’s internet connections, mobile phone towers, water supplies, traffic signals, and EFTPOS payments. In your home or building, it will affect how you live and work, particularly heating, cooling, refrigeration, cooking, lighting and elevators.

“It’s important to have a plan and know what you would do if the power does go out – charge your phones, laptops and other devices, know how to open your garage door manually, and know where to turn for information.

“Make sure you are ready to enact your backup plan if you rely on life support equipment or need electrical items to care for others and have water available if your supply relies on power.”

Mr Galey reminded people that severe winds can bring down powerlines.

“Beware of fallen powerlines and always assume they are live,” he said.

“If you do find a fallen line, stay at least 10 metres away from them and contact us immediately on 13 24 12.”

Customers are encouraged to sign up for outage alerts at www.powercor.com.au/notify

Advice for preparing for power outages

Be Safe.

• Have a back-up plan ready if you rely on life support equipment or need electrical items to care for babies, the disabled, elderly or pets.
• Plan to keep food safe. Set your fridge to 5 degrees (5^oC) or below.  An unopened fridge will keep food for about four hours.
• Have plenty of drinking water available if your supply relies on power.

Be Smart.

• Download the VicEmergency app and keep emergency phone numbers handy.
• Know how to connect computers and tablets to your mobile phone’s hotspot.
• Back-up computer files.
• Know how to open electric garage doors and gates manually.

Be Ready.

• Charge mobile phones, laptops and portable back-up batteries.
• If you have a rooftop solar system or a battery, check that it is able to operate in a power outage.
• If you plan to use a generator, make sure it’s fully fuelled, operational and that you know how to safely operate it.
• Have a battery-powered radio available for real time news updates.
• Keep battery-powered lamps or torches handy.