A final report that investigated the response from privately owned power companies to the extreme storms in February 2024 has been released.
The report from the independent panel includes a plan for a quicker response and reconnections for Victorians in future outages.
Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, Lily D’Ambrosio, welcomed the Network Outage Review’s recommendations for Victoria’s distribution businesses – focusing on preparedness, resource deployment and restoration of power.
The expert panel, made up of Rosemary Sinclair, Gerard Brody and Kevin Kehl, made 19 recommendations and 12 observations that form a clear pathway of improvements for distribution businesses in response to an outage.
Feedback from impacted communities and businesses was central to developing the report, with input from industry, essential services, emergency and regulatory bodies.
The report recommends a new financial support mechanism that provides more immediate support for customers impacted by outages, putting the onus on distribution business to reduce restoration times.
The panel recommended formalising mutual aid arrangements between power companies before an outage, to ensure a quicker response and reconnection.
The report also highlights the need for accurate and timely information on customer reconnection times, and the importance of ensuring that communications tools, such as outage trackers, can meet surge demand.
Some of the same communities that were impacted by prolonged outages during the February storm experienced outages again in September 2024 following extreme winds. In response to the interim Network Outage Review released in July 2024, power companies have already begun to change preparedness processes.
However, the review makes strong recommendations for improvements to power company processes and engagement to improve the response to storm-related outages. The Victorian Government said that it will respond to the recommendations in the review later in 2024.
Ms D’Ambrosio said that as severe weather events are becoming more frequent due to climate change, more needs to be done to make sure Victorian communities are reconnected quickly and supported appropriately in the event of a mass outage.
“I thank the panel for their work and the communities that were impacted by storms for their input – we asked for this review to ensure Victorians receive the support they deserve in future storms and we will continue to work with distributors to ensure that is delivered.”
Network Outage Review Panel Chair, Rosemary Sinclair, said, “Our recommendations focus on step change improvements that will strengthen support for communities – including for electricity infrastructure in high-risk areas for outages, and by other critical infrastructure operators, like telecommunications and water, in their planning and preparation for the first 72 hours of an event.”
To read the final report visit, energy.vic.gov.au/about-energy/safety/network-outage-review.
Image credit: Ruben Fino/Shutterstock.com.
