“We thought it could be off for quite a few days…”
That was Skipton farmer Stewart Wills’ expectation on 9 January, as heavy smoke from an oncoming grassfire made it impossible to see even his own front gate.
It was one of four major fires burning across our network that day, the others at Natimuk, Harcourt and Cobram. At the peak, around 52,000 customers were off supply. Our crews replaced more than 300 damaged power poles and restored 90% of affected customers within 12 hours.
Powercor’s restoration efforts were captured in our submission to the recent Parliamentary Inquiry into the 2026 Summer Fires.
For communities like Stewart’s, getting the power back on quickly means farms, businesses and households can start recovering sooner. Hear his story in the video below.
