Storm response FAQ

Update 20 February 2024 4:00pm

Our crews continue to work on restoring the remaining 2,400 customers off-supply. We’re at the tail-end of the restoration process and are well-resourced throughout the week to attend the remaining faults.

Over 12,000kms of our network were damaged by the storms last week and we’ve extensively patrolled this area to ensure we’ve repaired the damage.

Financial relief is available from the State and Federal governments for households and businesses affected by prolonged outages following the storm events last Tuesday 13th February.  

Please continue checking Outage Tracker for latest restoration times.

 

 

 

     

Images from our Vegetation Management crew in Mirboo North continuing to work through the extensive damage yesterday. They’ve nearly finished cutting trees off powerlines and are also working on storm damaged trees that could pose a threat to powerlines if the wind picks up. A reminder to be aware of any detached or broken branches caught up in tree canopies when walking, driving and parking.

Update 18 February 2024 8:45pm

Since this afternoon’s update, we have restored power to a further 1,700 customers, and we currently have around 6,800 customers without power.

As we head into another evening, we continue to recognise the challenges our hardest hit communities have faced. Our crews continue to work through the night and into a new week to get the power restored as quickly and as safely as possible.

Understandably, many customers have asked us about compensation. The Australian and Victorian Governments have announced that they will provide prolonged power outage payments for households and businesses that have been without power for seven days following the extreme weather event on Tuesday 13 February 2024. Read more on our Prolonged power outage payment page. 

Please see the most recent restoration times for your suburb on our temporary Outage Tracker website. While there are a lot of incidents, the estimated time of restoration will be similar for the same suburb. 

Image taken in Mirboo North

More resources

• View a list of relief centres that may be in your area and additional support available on the Vic Emergency website
• For those with a longer estimated restoration time, see our tips on managing a night without power
• If the power has been restored in your area, but you still don’t have power at your home, see our FAQ section at the end of this page for advice. 
• To get SMS updates from us, make sure your electricity retailer has your mobile number, they’ll pass it onto us.
• For residential customers impacted by prolonged power outage beyond 12:01 AM Tuesday 20 February 2024, additional relief support will be available for those most in need. Customers can call Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action on 1800 560 760. 

Update 18 February 2024 2:00pm

Our crews worked into last night and restored power to a further 4,500 customers. We are making strong progress and currently have approximately 8,500 customers without power.

Our teams are well-resourced today and focused on restoring power to nearly 4,000 customers by later today in some of our hardest hit communities.

When it comes to prioritising jobs, our planning team firstly focus on factors including community safety and essential services (eg hospitals or vital infrastructure). They then work to restore power to areas with the largest number of customers off supply.  

We will have full details on Prolonged Power Outage Payments soon – in the meantime please read the current update from the Premier of Victoria. 

Please see the most recent restoration times for your suburb on Outage Tracker website. Whilst there are a lot of incidents, the estimated time of restoration will be similar for the same suburb. 

For additional support that may be available in your area, see a list of relief centres. 

We’ll continue to update you here and send SMS updates. To get SMS updates from us, make sure your electricity retailer has your mobile number, they’ll pass it onto us.

Our customer service team and field crews are working as quickly and safely as possible so please continue to be patient and respectful with them as they support the restoration program.

 

 

 

Images taken in Clematis

More resources

• View a list of relief centres that may be in your area and additional support available on the Vic Emergency website
• For those with an expected longer restoration time, see our tips on managing a night without power
• If the power has been restored in your area, but you still don’t have power at your home, see our FAQ section at the end of this page for advice. 
• For residential customers impacted by prolonged power outage beyond 12:01 AM Tuesday 20 February 2024, additional relief support will be available for those most in need. Customers can call Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action on 1800 560 760. 

Update 16 February 2024 8:30pm

We have 500 resources out on the field today, continuing to work hard across our network to restore power. Since our lunch time update, a further 8,000 customers have got their power back on, and we currently have around 22,000 customers without power.  

Today, we continued to focus on some of the hardest hit areas on our network including the Bass Coast Shire, Baw Baw Shire, Cardinia Shire, Casey City, East Gippsland Shire, South Gippsland Shire, Knox City, Latrobe City, Wellington Shire and Yarra Ranges Shire.  

It’s been an extensive undertaking with a coordinated approach across our faults and restoration team, vegetation management crews and our customer service team and control room. But we’re well-resourced and ready to head into the weekend with the same focus. 

Since the widespread storms on Tuesday, our team have patrolled 10,000kms of powerlines from the sky and on the ground and we’ve identified 1,500 faults requiring repairs to date. 

Please see the most recent restoration times for your suburb on our temporary Outage Tracker website. We understand there are a lot of incidents for the same suburb, but the estimated time of restoration would be similar for each suburb.

Images taken of extensive powerline and power pole damage in Belgrave 

More resources

• View a list of relief centres that may be in your area and additional support available on the Vic Emergency website
• For those with an expected longer restoration time, see our tips on managing a night without power
• If the power has been restored in your area, but you still don’t have power at your home, see our FAQ section at the end of this page for advice. 
  
  

Update 16 February 2024 1:00pm

We know it’s been a long and challenging week for our customers impacted by outages after Tuesday’s severe storm event. For customers still without power we thank you for your continued patience and understanding whilst we work through our restoration program.

Around 20,000 customers got their power back on overnight and we currently have just under 30,000 homes and businesses without power. We have responded to approximately 350,000 outages since the storm event on Tuesday and today have a dedicated team of over 500 resources and 3 helicopters in the field.

Our field crews are strongly resourced and are working on connecting as many customers as fast and safely as possible. We expect most of our remaining customers to be restored by end of day tomorrow, with some more complex jobs continuing into next week.

We’ll be working to ensure all estimated times for restoration on our temporary Outage Tracker website are up to date and accurate. Please have a look at the restoration times for your suburb. We understand there are a lot of incidents for the same suburb. The estimated time of restoration would be similar for one suburb.

We’ll continue to update you throughout today on Facebook and send SMS updates. To get SMS updates from us, make sure your electricity retailer has your mobile number, they’ll pass it onto us. Please continue to be patient with our customer service team and our field crews as they are working as fast and safely as possible.

Our next update will be later this afternoon.

 

 

Images of damaged power poles and fallen powerlines taken in Mirboo North.

More resources

• View a list of relief centres that may be in your area and additional support available on the Vic Emergency website
• For those with an expected longer restoration time, see our tips on managing a night without power
• If the power has been restored in your area, but you still don’t have power at your home, see our FAQ section at the end of this page for advice. 

   

Update 15 February 2024 9:00pm

As we move into the evening our teams continue to work into the night to make further progress on restoring our network and getting customers connected to power again. We currently have under 50,000 customers without power and we’re continuing to prioritise jobs to get the maximum number of customers back on at once.

Today, along with our field crews, we had three helicopters assessing the damage to the network to support our coordinated efforts. Tomorrow morning we’ll have them patrolling again, along with a heavily resourced team across fault restoration, vegetation management, customer service and our control room.

Our vegetation team is inspecting powerlines to identify trees that have been damaged by the recent storm event and have the potential to cause further outages if weather conditions change.

We’ve recently updated all estimated times for restoration on our temporary Outage Tracker website, please have a look at the restoration times for your suburb. We understand there are a lot of incidents for the same suburb. The estimated time of restoration would be similar for one suburb.

Please reach out to family and friends in impacted areas. Life support customers should continue using their emergency plans.

We’ll continue to update you here and send SMS updates. To get SMS updates from us, make sure your electricity retailer has your mobile number, they’ll pass it onto us.

Please continue to be patient with our customer service team and our field crews as they are working as fast and safely as possible.

Our next update will be tomorrow morning.

 

Images taken in Mirboo North

Update 15 February 2024 3:30pm

This afternoon we’ve made further progress on the network identifying and repairing the extensive damage. We’ve restored power to another 20,000 customers since this morning including two big outages in Philip Island and Bairnsdale, connecting around 8,300 customers back on supply. We still currently have around 50,000 customers without power and continue to direct resources in a coordinated approach. We're prioritising jobs that will get the maximum number of customers back on at once.  

This afternoon we’re focusing on an outage in Bairnsdale, impacting around 3,300 customers and hope to have them restored in the coming hours. We still anticipate the majority of our customers will have their power back tonight.   

Please continue to check our temporary Outage Tracker page for your estimated time of restoration. We understand there is a lot of data on that page, and a lot of incidents for the same suburb. The estimated time of restoration would be similar for one suburb. 

Please reach out to family and friends in impacted areas. Life support customers should continue using their emergency plans. See this list of relief centres on the Vic Emergency website, there might be one near you.

We’ll continue to update you here and send SMS updates. To get SMS updates from us, make sure your electricity retailer has your mobile number, they’ll pass it onto us.   

Our next update here will be later this evening. 

         

   

Image from Mount Burnett

Mirboo community update

Thank you for your patience and understanding while we investigate and put together a plan to rebuild and restore power to the area. 

South Gippsland Shire Council has established a relief point at the Mirboo North & District Community Foundation at 96 Ridgway, Mirboo North (next to Brava Hair Design). You can get local information and advice there, including internet access and device charging points.  

We know you’ve been one of the hardest hit communities and we’ll be contacting you via SMS this afternoon on the current situation and our plans for reconstruction. Please make sure your electricity retailer has your current mobile number, they’ll pass it onto us so we can start sending you updates.  

At this stage, due to the extensive damage to our network in the area, the estimated time of restoration is Thursday 22nd February. We really hope we can get your power back on before then, but we hope this information on outages will help you prepare for the week ahead.

For more storm events updates visit the South Gippsland Shire Council website. 

Images from Mirboo

Update 15 February 2024 11:30am

Our crews continued working tirelessly through the night, identifying and repairing the extensive damage to our network. We’ve made good progress overnight and have restored power to another 25,000 customers. We currently have around 70,000 customers without power, compared to over 100,000 yesterday. 

Today, we’ve got over 500 resources out on the field and an additional 100 in our customer service centre and control room. We’ll continue to prioritise jobs that will get the maximum number of customers back on supply. Please continue to check our temporary Outage Tracker page for your estimated time of restoration. We understand there is a lot of data on that page, and a lot of incidents for the same suburb. The estimated time of restoration would be similar for one suburb. Here’s our info on how we prioritise jobs. 

We anticipate the majority of our customers will have their power back on tonight, with the remaining customers likely to get their power back over the coming week. Some of these areas are one of our hardest hit on the network and need extensive repairs and construction before we can safely turn the power back on.  

Please reach out to family and friends in impacted areas. Life support customers should activate their emergency plans.  

We’ll continue to update you here and send SMS updates. To get SMS updates from us, make sure your electricity retailer has your mobile number, they’ll pass it onto us. 

 

 

 

Images from Emerald overnight  

Update 14 February 2024 8:30pm

At the start of the day, we had 260,000 customers without power, our dedicated team of 400+ resources, including 2 helicopters, restored power to 156,000 of these customers. This leaves 104,000 customers still without power. We’re sorry for the significant impact this is causing and we’re working as fast and as safely as we can.

We’re continuing to prioritise jobs that will get the maximum number of customers back on supply. We anticipate 48,000 customers will have their power back on tomorrow by 6pm and another 50,000 by 6pm on Saturday. There are a small number of customers where the impact of the damage is still to be assessed. Our Facebook page will continue to be updated with the latest information. Please ensure your mobile number is up to date with your retailer so we can send you updates directly by SMS as soon as we have more information.

If you can't see your suburb listed on our temporary outage page at Outage Tracker please report a fault here. 

For advice on staying connected during a longer outage visit Outages. 

 

 

 

Images from Cockatoo

Update 14 February 2024 5:30pm

Our crews have been working tirelessly today. At the start of the day, we had 260,000 customers off supply, and we have restored power to 150,000 of these customers.

With roads closed and trees down our focus is restoring power to the 110,000 still off supply. We are prioritising jobs that will the maximum number of customers back on supply knowing the restoration process ahead of us is still very big.

For our customers still without power we’re sorry for the significant impact this is causing – we’re working as fast and as safely as we can.

We will continue to update this page and our Facebook page with the latest information. Please ensure your mobile number is up to date with your retailer so we can send you updates directly by SMS as soon as we have more information.

If you can’t see your suburb listed on our temporary outage page at Outage Tracker please report a fault here. 

Update 14 February 2024 11:30am

Our field crews have been working overnight to assess the damage to our network caused by the severe weather that moved across most of Victoria yesterday. We currently have 183,000 customers without power.

We have more than 320 resources across fault response and vegetation management responding to more than 400 different faults today, including fallen and damaged powerlines and trees.

Due to the large volumes and complexity of the damage, restoration times will be longer than usual, and some customers may be without power for multiple days.

Unfortunately, due to extremely high volumes of traffic, our Outage Tracker experienced slow loading times yesterday. We have a temporary solution online now supporting customers to find outages impacting them. Our Facebook page will continue to be updated with the latest information.

Please ensure your mobile number is up to date with your retailer so we can send you updates directly by SMS over the coming days.

We are working on more detailed restoration plans today to prioritise getting the power back on for our customers and will have further updates on restoration times later today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images from Avonsleigh and Cockatoo yesterday

What you can do:

• If you are in immediate danger or need urgent medical help, call 000.
• If you’re a life support customer, please activate your emergency plan. You can call us anytime on 1800 818 832. For more information, visit Life support customers.
• For emergency services, including relief centres, call SES on 13 25 00 or visit Vic Emergency.
• Call 13 17 99 to report faults and emergencies, including fallen powerlines and powerlines caught in trees. We'll need your full address or the number on your nearest power pole, and a description of the damage.
• Check our Outage Tracker for latest restoration times. If you can't see your outage there, report it online.
• If there is damage to your property or your private electrical line, contact a registered electrician for repairs.
• For tips to stay power prepared, see Prepare for an electrical outage.
• For the latest weather updates, visit Bureau of Meteorology.

Please stay away from fallen powerlines and assume any wires are live. If an area is still flooded, please stay safe. Never drive through floodwaters.