13 June update: Power outages across Victoria’s northern and western regions

Major reconstruction of the power network in the Woodend, Trentham, Kyneton and Blackwood region is continuing, with Powercor crews focused on restoring power to the remaining 3000 homes and businesses still off supply.

Power has now been restored to more than 20,000 customers within the region after Wednesday’s windstorm, and more than 100,000 across the network. Supply has been restored to the communications tower at Mt Macedon and Coliban Water supplies, as well as large parts of Trentham and Woodend.

This is one of the most complex and challenging restoration efforts on the Powercor network in recent times and reconstruction work will be continuing into this week.

We do expect a small number of customers may be without supply until at least Tuesday. Crews from across western Victoria have been mobilised to the area to support rebuilding poles, wires and other infrastructure destroyed from falling trees, branches and other debris.

Access to the most severely damaged areas around Trentham and Blackwood has been very difficult. Our crews have now been able to gain access and assess the damage.

Powercor is working with the community to install a generator at the Blackwood caravan park to allow local residents to access showers and electricity. We will be aiming to install a generator to power a community meeting point in the main street.

We’d like to thank the community for their understanding, patience and support as we work to get power back on. We appreciate how tough these conditions are for the community and want to assure them we are doing everything possible to rebuild the network.

We also acknowledge the community’s frustration with changing restoration times and we do apologise for this. As a consequence of the storm, the repair work is complex and broad. New faults and damage are also being located and will need repairing before large sections of the network is switched back on.

We will continue updating estimated restoration times at www.powercor.com.au, through our contact centre and through community meetings.

We would advise customers to assess their own individual circumstances and determine whether they should seek alternative accommodation arrangements. The Victorian Government has provided information about what customers can do if a power outage is impacting their health and safety. This advice is available at www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/emergencies-and-coronavirus-covid-19#power-outages

If people do see a fallen powerline, they should always stay well away from them and report them to us immediately on 13 24 12.