@imastawka wrote:
@bluecat*dancing wrote:
Victorian Premier Denis Napthine has just told ABC radio that some households across the state may have their power cut off in the next two hours to cope with the huge national electricity supply and demand during the heatwave.
Its advised that you contact your power supply company to ensure it is due to planned outage if your household is affected.
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That's after the power goes out!
Now, how does Mr Napthine expect us to do that with no power for computer or phone?
Bet Toorak/Sth Yarra don't get cut off
a lot of people have already been without power .
Electricity supply disrupted
Most customers whose power was cut were expected to have power restored by Wednesday morning. But hundreds of homes and businesses – in Bell Park in Geelong, in central Ballarat, Boronia, Diamond Creek, Lower Plenty, Macleod and Eltham – were expected to be without power until after midday on Wednesday.
Greensborough, Ringwood and Ringwood North and East and Warranwood were not due to get power back until 11am Wednesday, according to power distributor SP AusNet.
About 15,000 Citipower customers and 20,000 Powercor customers lost power overnight in the 24 hours to 6am Wednesday.
Brunswick was among the most affected in Melbourne with 6546 customers without power from 6.30pm. Nearly two-thirds were restored by 8pm with the remainder back by just after 10pm, Citipower and Powercor spokesman Drew Douglas said.
He said a failed insulator at the West Brunswick zone substation caused the power failure. It took until early Wednesday morning to be fully repaired.
Powercor had 20,000 customers without power overnight on Tuesday with Horsham (6000), Laverton (4500), Castlemaine (4000) and Ouyen (1300) the most affected. Other towns to suffer include Maryborough, Kyneton and Charlton. Late-night lightning caused some of the outages, but the majority were caused by heat issues, Mr Douglas said.
He said 299 Powercor customers were without power at midday on Wednesday and three Citipower customers.
Power distributor United Energy had 20,000 customers without power — most during the peak usage times of 5pm to 8pm on Tuesday night — as hot workers returned to hot homes to put on fans and air conditioners.
Early on Wednesday morning, United Energy had 14 areas listed with major power failures, with hundreds of customers affected, including those in Mordialloc, Cheltenham, Beaumauris, Mornington, Baxter, Chelsea Heights, Rosebud, Dromana, Endeavour Hills, Blairgowrie and East Bentleigh. In some suburbs more than one area was affected.
United Energy spokesman Jai McDermott said the Mornington Peninsula was the most affected area overnight.
Most of the heat-related distribution problems were caused by broken fuses under stress from the heat, he said. Mr McDermott said some delays in the return of electricity were related to visual fire-safety checks during hot weather, which were normally an automated process.
He added it was the first chance the power company had to analyse power supply during a heatwave using smart meters, which could help avoid outages in the future.
Mr McDermott said customers could help reduce the pressure on the system by turning off appliances that are not in use, by closing blinds and reducing air conditioning unit temperatures to 24 to 26 degrees.
‘‘There are little things that householders can do that do not compromise comfort,’’ Mr McDermott said.
Other suburbs affected included Brunswick, Gladstone Park (113) and Williamstown, with 229 customers.
Hundreds of Powercor customers were without power overnight. In Geelong’s Bell Park, 143 customers lost power at 8.30pm on Monday with no listed time for it to be restored. Another 163 lost power on Wednesday morning in a planned outage; power is expected to be back on by 12.30pm.
In Ballarat, 63 customers and in Trentham 39 customers lost power on Wednesday morning. Trentham is not due to have power restored until 11.30am. Ballarat was listed as restored by 10.30am.
The Australian Energy Market Operator has forecast that Victorians will use about 10,150 megawatts of electricity on Wednesday, slightly more on Thursday of around 10,400 MW and about 10,200 MW on Friday. Victorians on a typical summer day in Victoria use about 6600 MW a day.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/environment/weather/melbourne-and-victoria-to-bake-through-another-hot-day-...
