Power outage
How Victorian power companies could be forced to pay you for blackouts
A review into storms that cut power to 530,000 homes has called for energy distributors – not governments – to compensate customers who lose power.
- by Kieran Rooney
Latest
Power blackout causes chaos in Perth CBD as people stuck in lifts
WAtoday understands Department of Fire and Emergency Services officers are responding to at least four callouts for people stuck in lifts.
- by Hamish Hastie
Updated
Perth
Humid weather causes power blackout in Perth’s northern suburbs
About 13,000 homes in Perth’s north remain without power on Monday afternoon due to rain and humid weather damaging around 70 power poles.
- by Heather McNeill
Hills of discontent as communities remain blacked out a week after storm
Dandenong Ranges residents are losing patience with the most prolonged power outage in memory as businesses lose money and families are left without internet or hot showers.
- by Benjamin Preiss
Updated
Weather
75,000 lightning strikes, mass train chaos: Sydney hit by storms
Tens of thousands of homes and businesses were left without power and four people were hospitalised after being struck by lightning.
- by Anthony Segaert and Jessica McSweeney
When everyone else lost power, Kate’s stayed on. Here’s why
Many communities and individuals have opted to take matters into their own hands, investing in solar panels on rooftops, household batteries, and electric vehicles could be used to power the grid.Â
- by Laura Chung
Hundreds of Victorian transmission towers are rusty and at risk of damage
Almost one-in-seven of Victoria’s 13,000 electricity transmission towers have patchy or extensive rust, with experts warning the network is vulnerable to extreme weather.
- by Josh Gordon, Kieran Rooney and Broede Carmody
Dozens of homes razed, 50,000 still without power after wild storms
Twenty-four homes were destroyed by a bushfire in Pomonal and another was razed further north at Dadswells Bridge.
- by Lachlan Abbott, Clay Lucas, David Swan and Broede Carmody
Victoria’s power dilemma: Reliability, resilience and a 40-year-old plant
The Latrobe Valley’s Loy Yang A is Victoria’s largest coal-fired power plant. It’s also old and unreliable – leaving taxpayers exposed.
- by Josh Gordon
Mass power outage puts spotlight on sturdiness of transmission towers
Gale force winds have yet again toppled transmission lines, raising questions about the ability of the electricity grid to cope with climate change.
- by Mike Foley
Victoria power outages as it happened: Hundreds of thousands across state still without power; final Grampians fire alert downgraded
Homes have been lost in Victoria’s west as two out-of-control blazes burn in the Grampians after the worst day for fire conditions since the Black Summer. Follow live updates.
- by Lachlan Abbott and Alex Crowe