Over recent days, we have been taking proactive steps to protect critical power assets in Mooroopna at risk of flooding. These steps have included building a levee, sandbagging infrastructure and using pumps to keep water out.
Despite these actions, rising flood waters in the Goulburn River have now reached a level at our Mooroopna zone substation that makes it unsafe to keep power on at the site.
We have been unable to keep water away from high-voltage equipment and as a result we have de-energised the substation.
Safety is always our priority, and we have taken this action to reduce the risk to the community and minimise long-term damage to electricity assets that may lead to prolonged power outages.
The zone substation supplies about 10,688 homes and businesses in the Mooroopna, Tatura, Ardmona, parts of Shepparton, Kialla, Haston, Murchison, Dhurringile, Rushworth and surrounding towns.
We have been able to continue providing power to about 4,700 customers connected to the zone substation by supplying them via other parts of our network.
About 5,954 customers will remain off power until it is safe for us to re-energise the site.
We are investigating opportunities to restore power to more customers over coming days by using large-scale generators, redirecting network supply from other areas and upgrading and building new assets. We will keep customers updated as we progress this work.
We know this is a difficult situation for the local community and we thank them for their patience during this time.
We will continue monitoring conditions and will restore power once conditions improve and it is safe to do so.
Given the current flooding predictions, the zone substation may be off supply for multiple days.
We are working closely with emergency agencies and local authorities as this flooding emergency continues.
We will keep you updated on the restoration time via our website and SMS.
Advice on what to do if you are impacted by flooding is available here.