After 24 hours without TV, internet or refrigerators power has been restored to homes and businesses in Lara, but more than 100,000 customers in other parts of Victoria could remain off the grid until late Saturday – or longer.
Electricity crews have worked feverishly to reinstate the network after Tuesday’s freak storm that left more than half-a-million Victorians in the dark.
Services to more than 400,000 homes and businesses have been restored, with another 103,000 told it could be days before they are back on the grid.
The blackouts were initially caused by power companies “load shedding” as electricity generators staged controlled shut-downs to protect the network during Tuesday’s 41° temperatures.
But the spectacular collapse of high tension line towers near Anakie sent a shockwave through the system, taking out Gippsland’s aging Loy Yang A coal-fired power station.
The resulting outage was the biggest in Victoria’s history.
Lara’s 24-hour blackout led to the closure of at least one local school and a number of retail outlets.
Electricity wholesaler Powercor dispatched its mobile emergency power hub to the town to allow locals to recharge devices such as mobile phones and computers. Staff were also on hand to offer advice related to the blackout.
It’s not clear whether home insurance policies will cover the replacement cost of food stored in home freezers that thawed during the outage.
