Powercor still seeks cause of Torquay outage

POWERCOR is assessing its network of cables in Torquay as it tries to discover the cause of last week’s outages, which affected thousands of homes and businesses and left hundreds without power for more than 12 hours.

The initial cable fault on the network occurred just after 5pm on January 11 and affected about 5,000 customers. Power was restored to 2,000 customers within minutes, and to most of the remaining customers by 9pm.

A second cable fault took place about five hours later, just after 2.30am on January 12, and affected about 3,000 customers. Most of these had their power restored by 4.33am but the remaining 300 homes and businesses had no power for most of the day, with the last customer being restored to the network at about 8.30pm on January 12.

“We will now take the time to go over all network data available, assessing all aspects of how the network performed in the lead up to the faults occurring and examine the root cause of each of the cable faults,” a Powercor spokesperson said.

“Our reliability team will use this information to determine the best way to address any issues found for the local area and assess what upgrades or enhancements are required.”

Powercor says extreme conditions including heat, storms and strong winds can lead to power outages, and is encouraging customers to be prepared:

• Look after your health – particularly if you rely on life support equipment
• Stay connected – by having mobile phones and laptop computers charged to stay connected with family and friends
• Pre-cool your home – if a power outage is planned as part of ongoing maintenance activities on the network
• Have back-up energy ready – such as batteries, lamps and barbeques
• Stay up to date – by downloading the VicEmergency app and signing up for Powercor SMS notifications about power supplies.

For more information, head to Powercor’s “Liney Lessons” page at powercor.com.au/lineylessons.