Causes

There are two types of power outages which can affect CitiPower and Powercor Australia’s distribution networks and interrupt customers’ supply: planned outages and unplanned outages.

Planned outages

A planned outage occurs when electrical lines or equipment have to be temporarily taken out of service for repair or to allow network maintenance, alterations or augmentation.

Unless undertaken in an emergency situation, a planned outage will be scheduled in advance, and affected customers will be made aware of the outage at least four days before it occurs. Every effort is made to undertake planned outages during times which will least inconvenience customers, but in some instances this is not always possible.
 
Unplanned outages

The second type of power interruption is an unplanned outage, and is a result of the loss of a section of the network due to a fault, which can include:

•    equipment failure
•    cable faults
•    damage by third parties
•    lightning strikes
•    high winds during storms
•    pole fires
•    bird or animal interference

In these situations, there is no possibility of giving customers an early warning of an impending outage, but we will work always as quickly as possible to restore supply.