Plan to have the power you need this summer.
We know power outages, for any reason, are especially inconvenient over summer.
Despite all our planning and work behind the scenes, extreme weather can happen at any time and can cause extensive damage and outages, and bushfires can also damage power infrastructure and lead to power outages.
So far this year we have
Just as we’ve been preparing for a busy summer period, there are things you can do to keep your family safe. Have a read through the tips below, discuss it with your family, and be prepared for summer.
For many of you who have made a ‘seachange’ or a ‘treechange’ in the last couple of years, it may be the first summer you are spending living in regional Victoria so it’s even more important that you plan and know what to do ahead of extreme weather, fires and how to respond in a power outage.
Things to consider:
For safety reasons, solar panels will stop operating during power outage events. This is to ensure that excess solar power is not being fed back into the grid and potentially endangering our lineworkers and the community. Solar customers who want to access solar and excess power stored in batteries during these events should talk to a reputable solar installer about off-grid backup system solutions.
Our bushfire mitigation programs are helping to make our communities safer. In the Powercor network we have REFCLs operating in 17 locations and expect to have them operating in 18 locations by this summer. The REFCLs will cover 115 feeder lines, 15,467km of powerlines and support 215,760 customers.
REFCLs are located at Bendigo, Woodend, Gisborne, Castlemaine, Colac, Camperdown, Winchelsea, Bendigo Terminal Station, Maryborough, Eaglehawk, Charlton, Ararat, Ballarat North, Ballarat South, Terang, Stawell and Koroit, with Merbein also expected to be operating on this summer.
Take a look at the video below to find out how REFCLs work to protect your community.
We operate our network’s safety devices on more sensitive settings during summer and on Total Fire Ban Days to minimise fire starts and this can lead to outages.
Outages on these days may take longer to restore, as our crews are required to patrol the lines after each fault.
The longest feeder length on the Powercor network is more than 1190km long, while the average length is about 137km. This compares to just over 3km in the CitiPower network.