A little planning goes a long way

As the weather heats up, many Victorians are getting power prepared.

Through another challenging year, we’ve continued to prepare the network so it can be safe, reliable and in the best position to meet the peak demands of summer.

This year, we:

• trimmed 216,000 trees in high-risk bushfire areas
• inspected 130,000 power poles
• maintained 38,200kms of overhead powerlines
• installed bushfire prevention devices across high-risk regions. To find out more, see Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiters.

There are some simple things you can do to help reduce the impact of unexpected power outages over summer.

Summer ready tips

• Make sure your energy retailer (the company who sends your power bills) has your correct mobile number. They’ll pass your number onto us, so we can send alerts and updates straight to your phone.
• Save our faults and emergencies number (13 17 99) in your phone and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
• Stay up to date with our Outage tracker.
• If you have Private Electric Lines (PEL) on your property, clear or cut back trees, grass and shrubs away from your lines to reduce bushfire risk. You’re responsible for making sure your PEL is always in safe working condition. Ask a registered electrician to check your lines if you’re not sure.
• Be bushfire ready – create or update your bushfire safety plan and be ready to use it. Plans should include backup sources of power and gas. During a bushfire, you may experience interruptions to your electricity and/or gas supply, even if your property isn’t directly affected.

Power prepared checklist

Emergency kit – keep an emergency kit in an easy-to-access place and tell everyone in the home where it is. As a start, include a battery-operated radio (to get important updates) a torch, spare batteries and bottled water.

Food safety – keep the food in your fridge or freezer fresh by keeping the doors closed when possible. For more food safety tips, call the Department of Health on 1300 650 172 or visit Food safety during power outages.

Appliances – consider switching off or unplugging sensitive electrical and electronic equipment during an outage.

Water pumps – if you use electricity to run a water pump, make sure you have an alternative water source to use during an outage.

Electric doors and gates – if your property has electric gates or doors, make sure they have a backup battery, or if you can operate them manually.

Travel safely – there may be some changes to local road conditions or traffic management while the power is off, especially during bushfire season.

Stay connected – your family or neighbours might need extra support during power outages. If you can, ask them if there’s anything they need help with.

For more information, see Power prepared.