Update on power outages – Christmas Eve storms

Update: 8pm, 25 December

Powercor lineworkers continue to work on their Christmas miracle, with around 800 customers currently off supply down from a peak of more than 20,000.

Crews from across the state have converged on northern Victoria to assist local crews in the hardest hit areas, like Shepparton, Cobram, Echuca, Kerang and Swan Hill.

Work will continue into this evening but due to the significant damage caused by the storms, and volume of jobs. Some customers will be off power overnight and we’ll be contacting those directly.

There are still wires down in several areas and we’re asking anyone who comes across any fallen powerline to stay well clear, always treat it as live and report it to us on 13 24 12.

Thank you for the patience shown to our teams as they’ve worked to restore power as quickly and safely as possible.

Outage information continues to be updated on our outage map.

 

Update: 10.30am, 25 December

Well, this was not the Christmas anyone was hoping for. We get it. A power outage is the last thing anyone needs today.

If you have no power today, we’d like you to know we are feeling for you and we’re doing everything we can to get power back on.

We have more than 100 people in the field, in our control and dispatch teams and in our contact centre working hard to fix damage caused by the storms and keep you as updated as possible.

 

Current situation

There are now more than 240 faults on the network, with the northern Victoria region the most impacted.

Strong winds and lighting have damaged infrastructure in Swan Hill, Shepparton, Echuca and Cobram, with the majority of faults occurring in these locations over the past 12 hours.

CitiPower and Powercor crews from across the state have arrived in northern Victoria and are assisting local crews with restoration efforts.

Our field teams have reduced customer outage numbers from more than 20,000 off supply at the peak on Christmas Eve, to less than 3,000 this morning.

New storms have since moved across the network, with new faults causing outage numbers to rise again to slightly over 6,100 off power.

 

Outlook today

We expect storms to continue moving across the state today and its likely more faults may occur.

We urge customers to continue to put the safety of themselves and their families above all else, and never approach or touch any fallen powerlines, always treat them as live, and report them to us on 13 24 12.

We will keep customers updated via SMS, our outage map and our teams are always available on the phone – again at 13 24 12.

 

Initial update: 10:30pm, Sunday 24 December

Powercor crews are working to restore power for 17,000 customers across northern, central and western Victoria, after storms swept across the state this evening.

Just hours before the jolly man in red was due to arrive, the winds and lightning unfortunately arrived first, bringing down trees and causing damage to transformers and other equipment across the network.

A second storm front is expected in northern Victoria from around 4am Christmas morning.

 

Storm impact

Powercor crews are responding to more than 170 separate jobs, working as quickly and as safely as possible to restore power to a number of communities.

Northern Victoria is among the hardest hit areas, with around 5000 customers without power in Shepparton, and another 700 in Echuca. More than 70 faults have been recorded across these two areas alone.

Ballarat (5000 customers off supply) and Kyneton (3200) are also impacted, while Swan Hill, Daylesford, Hamilton and Charlton also have power outages in some areas.

 

Restoration

While we expect to get power back on for more customers this evening, given the number of faults some customers will still be off supply into tomorrow.

We will keep people updated via SMS and our outage map. As always, we thank all impacted customers for their patience and assure you that our priority is to restore power as soon as possible.

 

Safety

Stay safe – if you see a fallen powerline, please stay 10m clear and call us immediately on 13 24 12.