Nearly 30,000 without power, 44 homes lost after day from hell

“Prolonged power outage” payments for Victorian homes and businesses still without power after Tuesday’s devastating storms will be activated, it has been announced.

“Prolonged power outage” payments for Victorian homes and businesses still without power after Tuesday’s devastating storms will be activated, it has been announced.

Payments will kick in at the seven day mark, at $1920 per week for a household and $2927 per week for a business.

Nearly 30,000 Victorian households and businesses are still without electricity, days after wild storms caused the state’s largest power station to suffer a complete outage.

Of the 29,194 customers still without power as of 9.30am Friday, 13,624 were in the state’s central region, 14,061 in the east and 900 in the north.

It comes as it’s revealed 44 Pomonal homes have been lost to fire.

Premier Jacinta Allan on Friday morning said the number of destroyed properties was “higher than has previously been reported”.

She said that while the small Grampians town had suffered “devastating loss”, locals were showing great resilience.

“This is a community that before the emergency hit their town they had a community recovery plan in place which speaks to the remarkable strength in regional communities,” Ms Allan said.

44 homes were destroyed after bushfires broke out on Tuesday. Picture: Jason Edwards

Vic Emergency on Friday said a commercial property was among those destroyed in Pomonal and a small number were not primary residences.

Local MP Emma Kealy said the bushfires had caused a “significant loss of stock, fence lines and sheds”.

“Roads remain closed and could be closed for some time. Trees along roadsides are actively burning in the Pomonal area which present a risk to entry. This has been incredibly difficult for many Pomonal residents who don’t know if their home remains standing or not,” she posted to social media.

“It will be a massive clean-up.”

EARLIER

During a visit to the state’s west on Thursday, Premier Jacinta Allan, Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes and Emergency Management Commissioner Rick Nugent met with staff and volunteers at Dadswell Bridge.

Speaking at the Dadswells Bridge Fire Station, Ms Allan praised local communities for heeding the emergency warnings and evacuating early.

That saved lives, she said.

“We are seeing great impact but it could have been so much worse,” she said.

“I want to thank the local community for that very strong response.”

Premier Jacinta Allan and Horsham mayor Robyn Gulline on Wednesday. Picture: Brendan Beckett

Ms Allan said the fire threat had eased but urged locals to stay tuned into the VicEmergency app and monitor alerts.

Firefighters on Thursday continued to carry out fire suppression exercises.

One property at Dadswell Bridge, northwest of Stawell, was lost in the blaze.

“We know it’s been a really challenging time,” Ms Allan said.

“In less than 48 hours we’ve seen fires here in the western part of the state, that massive storm damage, the destructive winds that tore through so many communities and those communities are still working through that clean-up and reconnection effort. We continue to support them.”

The SES has received more than 4000 call outs for help. The most had come from suburbs in Melbourne’s south and east.

Emergency Management Commissioner Rick Nugent said the fire could have been “a lot, lot worse”.

Mr Nugent praised the work of volunteers and the local community for acting fast on the warnings.

“We knew it was catastrophic conditions … they prepared well but so did the community,” he said.

“The work does continue. The fire season is not over. The fires are still burning in areas.”

Mr Nugent said the Pomonal community would soon start returning to survey what’s left of their properties.

“I do feel for the residents who have lost homes. It is devastating. We understand the grief,” he said.

Ms Symes flagged further financial support would be rolled out for fire victims.

“I have been in contact with the Commonwealth government in relation to the activation of the joint funding arrangements – that is well underway for the impacted areas across the state,” she said.

“I expect we will have further announcements in relation to funding … as further assessment and information comes to light.”

Ms Symes said people who lost their homes would have access to a caseworker to help navigate the days ahead.

“For those that meet eligibility criteria there is further financial assistance available,” she said.

“Some people don’t know if they’ve lost their homes. We want to make sure that we’ve got support services so people can have their hand held and have all the questions they have answered.”

Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said the federal government was working closely with its Victorian counterparts to make sure they have what they need.

“The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is engaged and continuing to monitor bushfire conditions,” he said.

“This early support will start to help councils and residents commence clean up and recovery while impact assessments are ongoing.”

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) reported that at 9am on Thursday, 80,504 homes and businesses were still without power.

Powercor reported 199 customers in the state’s west and inner Melbourne were offline, down from 3,229 at 5pm on Wednesday.

United Energy, the main distributor in Melbourne’s southeast and Mornington Peninsula, reported 4,679 customers without power, down from 12,184.

In the city’s northwest, Jemena reported 181 customers remain without power, while CitiPower, which covers the CBD and inner suburbs, had one customer affected.

In Victoria’s east, AusNet had about 75,444 customers still affected, down from 112,272 at 5pm.

Over 80,000 Victorian households and businesses are still without electricity. Picture: Alison Wynd

AusNet said it is expected about 50,000 people will still be without power late on Thursday night, with a field crew of 500 members, working to restore power for 25,000 customers overnight on Wednesday.

The AusNet field crew responded to over 700 incidents alone on Thursday.

AusNet executive general manager Steven Neave apologised to those impacted by the lengthy power outages, adding a majority of AusNet customers will have their power restored by Saturday evening.

“I’d like to apologise to all our customers for the outages,” Mr Neave said on Thursday.

He said it would take some time to safely reach parts of the network affected by the “widespread devastation”, adding that areas in the Bass Coast Shire and the South Gippsland Shire had been hit the hardest by outages.

Work was being completed throughout Thursday to erect damaged transmission towers.

“We expect the towers, the temporary structures, to be erected within the next four days and to get that contingency back in,” he said.

Regarding those power dependent Victorians, including those currently on life support, Mr Neave said AusNet was working closely with the state government in assisting welfare checks on specific customers.

Compensation for customers is said to automatically come through for customers affected by the outages.

As of 9am on Thursday, more than 50 school sites and early childhood services were closed as a result of severe weather, access issues, and power, water and sewage issues.

Storm damage in Clayton Rd, Clayton. Picture: David Crosling

‘Triple whammy’ hip-pocket hit for blackout victims

A triple whammy of hip pocket pain looms for Victorians hit by blackouts, with calls for emergency payments to households and businesses already battling a cost of living crisis.

About 128,000 properties were still without power late on Wednesday, meaning families have been forced to bin hundreds of dollars worth of food from fridges – and many businesses lost even more.

At the worst of the crisis when storms hit on Tuesday, about 530,000 houses and businesses were plunged into darkness.

It is unclear when those still stranded will be reconnected to the grid given the scale of the damage across the state, but the market operator warned some could be waiting “days or more than a week in extreme circumstances”.

Experts say as well as wasted food and lost revenue for businesses, even more household bill blows are around the corner because the cost to fix these transmission systems will be passed through to the energy customers.

A third hit on bills will be from reimbursing big industrial users who switched off power when the grid was overloaded – and for generators who sparked up when there was not enough supply.

This week Crown Casino was among large users asked to help ease pressure on the grid, and cut its power use by 35 per cent.

It is unclear when those still stranded will be reconnected to the grid. Picture: David Crosling

St Vincent de Paul Society policy manager Gavin Dufty said the triple whammy comes at a tough time for many.

He said the fact that there is no automatic compensation scheme for transmission failures has rubbed salt in the wounds.

Payments of as much as $380 in compensation to consumers cut off from power for extended periods are usually available, but rules say companies are “excused” from coughing up for transmission connection problems.

“The government and industry need to both step up to the plate to help where help is needed,” Mr Dufty said.

“They do that during floods and fires and should do it in storm events like this.”

Costs associated with the wild weather clean-up will be determined later in the year, and will depend on the way transmission lines are rebuilt.

In October 2021, storms caused outages to 518,000 homes and businesses and left many without power for a week, with $6.1m from the clean-up passed through to customers over three years.

In 2021 storms caused outages to 518,000 homes and businesses. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake

Mr Dufty said the scale of the carnage this week meant it would be “much more expensive” than the $2 per customer and $9 per business the 2021 event costs annually.

But Premier Jacinta Allan said the massive cost associated with the recovery “isn’t something that will necessarily impact on power bills”.

Some experts are calling for the network to be built back differently to safeguard against more disasters, and for reforms to local grids.

Swinburne University electrical engineering expert, ­Associate Professor Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian, said community microgrids and energy sharing systems were options that could help build a “more resilient, sustainable, and ­secure energy future”.

This week’s chaos also reignited the debate about the future of gas, with the Australian Pipelines and Gas Association saying fast-start generators helped the state avoid further blackouts when Loy Yang A units tripped, but the “safety net” was under threat from the government’s war on gas.

Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said there would be a time to debate the future of gas but it was not in the midst of this disaster.