True cost of February storms was $770m and 1 million homes without power

The devastating February storms that cut power to more than a million Victorian homes caused $770 million in economic damage, with a final report into the event recommending new and faster payments for those who lose power beyond three days.

A six-month investigation has called for distribution companies to be held more accountable for preventing and fixing outages, recommending minimum standards in areas with poor coverage and better resource-sharing to help homes reconnect to the grid.

Transmission towers blown over in the You Yangs during the February storms.Credit: Jason South

Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio will on Friday release the government’s final report into the February 13 storms. The government said it would respond to the report’s recommendations later this year.

The report found that across the entire event, 1 million homes lost power including 531,000 households who were all offline at the peak of the outages. Damage to the state’s electricity network affected 12,000 kilometres of distribution lines and 1100 powerlines. Separately, six transmission towers collapsed and a major 500 kilovolt transmission line failed.

In total, the storms were responsible for $770 million in economic damage, with AusNet customers comprising about 71 per cent of this figure.

The scale of the damage and the pace of the recovery prompted the government to task a “network outage review” with finding ways to improve Victoria’s response, as 3000 homes were without power a week after the storms.

The report has recommended a new financial support scheme, called the extended loss of supply support payment, which would force distribution companies to pay compensation to those who have been without power after 72 hours. This would be paid for and funded by these businesses up to a maximum amount.

It also called for a minimum service level standard that would have a greater focus on reliable electricity supply in areas with a higher risk of lengthy outages.

“Our investigations have revealed that the current regulatory framework and instruments do not
support distribution businesses’ planning, preparedness and response to community needs
during prolonged power outages,” the report says.

“What became clear … is the need to achieve change quickly and with certainty by increasing accountabilities on distribution businesses while being mindful about costs to consumers.”

The report recommended Victoria’s transmission and distribution businesses report annually to the responsible minister on their risk management, including showing they have learned from the February storms and are better prepared for future outages.

Another recommendation called for formal “mutual aid” arrangements with these companies, ensuring that they shared their resources faster to help storm-damaged parts of the state get reconnected.

D’Ambrosio said the report would be used to improve support for Victorians in future storms.

“As severe weather events become 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,” she said.

Network Outage Review panel chair Rosemary Clair said their recommendations would strengthen support for communities, including in high-risk areas, and improve planning for other key connections such as telecommunications and water.

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