‘Call an electrician’: Substation fire leaves 4000 without hot water

Queenslanders across 4000 homes have been told to call an electrician at the government’s expense after a substation fire knocked out their hot water systems.

A fire at the Oakey substation has knocked out hundreds of hot water systems.

Queenslanders across 4000 homes have been told to call an electrician at the government’s expense after a substation fire knocked out their hot water systems.

A fire at the Oakey Substation overnight has knocked out a very specific switch which controls the supply of power to certain hot water systems in the region.

Energy Minister Mick de Brenni revealed 3900 homes at most across Oakey, Goombungee, Acland, Jondaryan, Lanewood and Rosalie Plains have been impacted by the blaze.

Those impacted are households whose electricity plan sign up to the off-peak electricity tariff to power their hot water systems.

The hot water systems work, but need to be reset. This reset must be done by a licensed electrician.

Impacted households are being told to book a licensed electrician for this job and bill it back to the government.

Those impacted will lose hot water access in about 24 hours.

Mr de Brenni said if households were having trouble getting a licensed electrician, they should call Ergon Energy at 131046, who will get it sorted for them.

“We do reiterate if you have difficulty finding one that will come to your property, please call Ergon. We will ensure that a licensed electrician or contractor gets to your property to get your hot water system going,” he said.

The government will also attempt to get in touch with each household.

There is not yet a cost estimate for the repairs to the substation, or the impact of resetting up to 3900 hot water systems.

The cause of the fire is not yet known and is being investigated.