CitiPower and Powercor Australia

However you’re planning to celebrate, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

Don’t forget that we’re here 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to fix faults and get the lights back on for you as safely and quickly as possible.

If your power goes out, visit our live outage map at powercor.com.au/outage to see what’s happening. If you don’t see your location on the outage map, report it at myenergy.powercor.com.au/s/report-a-fault or call 13 24 12.

You can also sign up for SMS outage alerts at powercor.com.au/power-outages-and-emergencies/track-outages

Santa found time in his busy pre-Christmas schedule to visit over 400 children from Warracknabeal, St Mary's Catholic and Avoca primary schools, as well as Warracknabeal Special Development School, who were thrilled to see our helicopters land on their school ovals last week.

The visits were our way of saying thank you to the community for their continuous support of Powercor's aerial vegetation inspection and cutting programs throughout the year. Santa’s visits have become something of an annual tradition in the lead up to the holiday season.

This year, his sleigh was the latest addition to our aerial inspection fleet - the Bell 407 helicopter, though the excitement proved overwhelming for Santa and he was spotted by our pilots taking a quick power nap!

Check your inbox - it’s arrived! If you're a Powercor or CitiPower customer you should have now received your 2023 Annual Notification via email or SMS.

The Annual Notification lets you know who we are and what we’re doing to provide you and your community with safe, reliable and affordable electricity.

To learn more head to powercor.com.au/media-and-resources/media-centre/annual-notification-2023

The rapid uptake of solar panels and electric vehicles is changing how and when we all use electricity. We recently hosted a half-day forum with stakeholders to ‘pressure test’ a set of future scenarios and assumptions for the energy network.

During the session, participants explored models based on three scenarios - electric vehicle uptake and charging, battery uptake and charging/discharging, and the electrification of gas.

These discussions will help shape future network energy demand and consumption, which will inform our business plans for the 2026-31 period. A report on the findings from the forum will be published in early February.

You can find out more about our future plans and share your thoughts by 5 January 2024 at:

Powercor: engage.powercor.com.au/service-level-futures-powercor
CitiPower: engage.powercor.com.au/service-level-futures-citipower

It’s your last chance to submit applications for our 2023 CitiPower & Cricket Victoria Canteen Grants! Entries close Friday 22 December.

👉 Apply today, conditions apply: https://www.cricketvictoria.com.au/citipower-canteen-grant/

It’s your last chance to submit applications for our 2023 CitiPower Canteen Grants!

Hurry, applications close December 22nd.

Apply now 👉 https://cricvi.co/CG20

Regional and rural customers make up 62% of Powercor's customers.

We know our customers living in these areas have different electricity needs and infrastructure, so as part of our future business planning, we’re investigating how to prepare Powercor’s regional network for an electrified, net zero future.

This could include upgrading low-capacity powerlines to support the energy transition, reliability improvement investments, and additional protections and recovery measures from major environmental events like storms, flooding and bushfires.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on how we can support you. Go to engage.powercor.com.au/service-level-futures-powercor and complete our survey by 5 January 2023. If you're in the CitiPower network you can also participate at engage.powercor.com.au/service-level-futures-citipower

⚡️ Power Outage Update | Thur 14 Dec | 3:30 p.m.

We continue to have crews on the ground working to restore power to approximately 58 customers who remain off supply.

We expect to restore power to everyone this afternoon.

We appreciate your patience and resilience if you have been affected by these power disruptions. We can't control the weather, but we can control how we react to it, and we appreciate your support.

📷: Introducing some of our camera-shy lineys who have been hard at work over the last 24 hours restoring power to customers affected by yesterday's extreme weather.

⚡️ Power Outage Update | Wed 13 Dec | 8:30 p.m.

It’s not quite the calm after the storm but with weather conditions improving, our crews will work into the night to respond to faults as quickly as safety allows.

Approximately 10,000 customers across our network were without power today as extreme weather conditions swept through the state, and we currently have 2,200 customers without power.

While we expect to get power back on for more customers this evening, given the number of faults some customers will still be off supply into tomorrow.

📱 We will keep people updated via SMS and our outage map: https://www.powercor.com.au/power-outages-and-faults/live-outage-map/

♥️ As always, we thank all impacted customers for their patience and assure you that our priority is to restore power as soon as possible.

👉 Stay safe - if you see a fallen powerline, please stay 10m clear and call us immediately on 13 24 12.

📷: Geelong and Brooklyn crews are pictured responding to faults this afternoon.

⚡️ Power Outage Update | Wed 13 Dec | 4:00 p.m.

We are currently responding to over 180 faults as lightning and severe winds continue to sweep over the state.

More than 135,900 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes have been reported across our network since midnight, with lightning damaging some of our assets, resulting in power outages.

👷 All hands are on deck with extra crews on the ground assessing damage and conducting repairs to the network. The hardest hit areas are Melbourne’s western suburbs, , , , and .

👉 We expect to get power back on to most customers today however given the large volume of faults, there may be some customers who will be off supply into tomorrow. We will keep our customers updated via SMS and on our outage map at https://www.powercor.com.au/power-outages-and-emergencies/live-outage-map/

👉 With the extreme weather continuing across the state, we are urging customers to take precautions in case power outages do occur: https://www.citipower.com.au/power-outages-and-emergencies/emergency/

It’s that time of year again! The 2023 Annual Notifications are coming soon, via email and SMS.

Each year, we get in touch to let our customers know who we are and what we’re doing to provide you and your community with safe, reliable and affordable electricity.

This year, we’ve included news about how to be safe over summer and how to monitor your electricity usage if you sign up to our online portal myEnergy: https://myenergy.powercor.com.au

Be on the lookout over the coming week!

A Total Fire Ban has been declared for the MALLEE and WIMMERA Fire Districts tomorrow - 8 December 2023.

No fires can be lit, or be allowed to remain alight, in the open air from 12:01 AM until 11:59 PM - https://news.cfa.vic.gov.au/news/total-fire-ban-for-wimmera-and-mallee-regions

Last week over 50 people, including residential customers, businesses and representatives from government, came together for our Energy Transition Summit.

At the summit, we received valuable input on our proposed approach to integrating renewables (including solar and EVs) into our network.This input will help shape the development of our business plan for the 2026-2031 regulatory period.

You’re invited to share your thoughts on this topic between now and 4 January 2024.

Powercor: engage.powercor.com.au/service-level-futures-powercor
CitiPower: engage.powercor.com.au/service-level-futures-citipower

A big thank you to everyone that attended our community information session for the Ballarat East Zone Substation project on Saturday.

If you didn’t make it, there is another session happening tomorrow (Wed 6 Dec) from 4pm-7pm at Sovereign Park York Conference Room, 223 Main Road, Ballarat.

For more infromation and to share your ideas for the substation’s design and the Community Legacy Fund go to https://engage.powercor.com.au/ballarateastzss

Did you know?
☀️ Forecasts show that the use of rooftop solar is set to double by 2031
🚗 Up to 1.5 million EVs are expected on Victorian roads by the same year.

Customers are driving the energy transformation through investments in solar, battery technologies and electric vehicles.

You’re invited to share your thoughts on how we should respond as part the consultation on our 2026-2031 business plans. Feedback is open until 5 January 2024.

Powercor: engage.powercor.com.au/service-level-futures-powercor
CitiPower: engage.powercor.com.au/service-level-futures-citipower

Wondering how to ‘charge smart’ and get the most out of your EV (electric vehicle)?

The Electric Vehicle Council has released an EV Charging at Home Guide as part of their new EV Hub, a one stop information source for EV owners.

As members of the EV Council, we were excited to contribute to this fantastic guide, which provides tips for new EV owners on how to reduce charging costs, consume more renewables and make sure they have enough power to charge safely and reliably at home.

Go to https://learn.evc.org.au to download the guide and for more helpful EV information.

Rain or shine, our customers in Maldon will turn up to help lead the energy transition!

We were thrilled to see such a big crowd show up yesterday at our Electric Avenue Maldon community information session. The Maldon Community Battery has launched a conversation about the community’s future electrical infrastructure, including how to get the most value out of their solar and help keep power prices down for everyone.

Works on the design and site surveying will begin early next year. The community battery is expected to be completed in early 2025.

To learn more about this project, visit https://www.citipower.com.au/network-planning-and-projects/network-innovation/electric-avenue/electric-avenue-maldon/

We recently have completed a challenging and rewarding project in Regent Street, Prahran, supporting the Stonnington City Council's Mount Street masterplan.

As part of the project, all customer service connections were changed from overhead to underground supply before the existing low voltage overhead open wire mains conductor was relocated to underground cables.

Do you live in Ballarat East? We're building a new substation to support the Ballarat region and keep power safe and reliable.

You're invited to shape the project - head to engage.powercor.com.au/ballarateastzss and tell us:
- your preferences for the fencing and boundary structures, lighting and landscaping at the substation
- your ideas for the $200,000 Community Legacy Fund, which will support investments in parks, recreation or security within the community

You can also learn more about the project at powercor.com.au/ballarateastzss

Do you live in Maldon? Did you know that next year we'll begin installing a community battery in your town?

Come down to the Maldon Community Centre from 10am–12pm on 29 November to learn more about the battery and how it will support more solar exports, maintain reliability and reduce carbon emissions. Registration is not required.

Our Mobile Emergency Response Vehicle (MERV) will also be there on the day.

Learn more: powercor.com.au/network-planning-and-projects/network-innovation/electric-avenue/electric-avenue-maldon/

Mount Alexander Shire Council

The rapid uptake of solar panels and electric vehicles is changing how and when we all use electricity.

Today we released a new consultation paper exploring the challenges and opportunities related to customer energy resources (resources that can generate or store power for customers).

It’s critical that our future business plans that we respond to these trends and deliver value for our customers. We invite customers and stakeholders to read the paper and share their views.

Read the paper and have your say at the below sites.
Powercor: engage.powercor.com.au/service-level-futures-powercor
CitiPower: engage.powercor.com.au/service-level-futures-citipower

Do you want to have a say in shaping the future energy network in your community?

In November and December, we’re hosting two in-person forums on important issues, including the energy transition and future energy and demand scenarios.

Customers and stakeholders play an important role in helping us solve these challenges and informing our business plans for the 2026-2031 period.

If you’d like to participate, learn more and register at https://engage.powercor.com.au/energy-forums

We know that for people living and working in regional and rural areas, a reliable supply of electricity is essential.

We recently met with Powercor customers in regional Victoria to hear their thoughts on improving network reliability, capacity and power quality.

Their valuable feedback will help us develop our business plans for 2026-2031, which will outline how we’ll continue delivering safe, resilient and reliable electricity to all Victorians.

Want to have your say? Visit https://engage.powercor.com.au/rural-and-regional-summit to learn more and share your thoughts.

🚨SEVERE WEATHER WARNING | Sunday 22 Oct

As you wake up to the news of this morning's earthquake, significant wind gusts are on their way, affecting our network this morning and into this evening. Winds are likely to gust to 80-95 km/h.

Locations that may be affected include , , and the .

Our teams monitor conditions closely and prepare by getting our crews ready with extra people and equipment so that we can respond fast.

You can act too by including power outages in your emergency plan.

👉 Be safe, be smart, and be ready: https://www.powercor.com.au/power-outages-and-emergencies/emergency/

The storms in June of 2021 were among the largest and most destructive many communities had seen. At the time, we weren't repairing the damage to the power network - we had to rebuild parts of it from scratch.

Places like Blackwood were off power for 6 days. So it was great to be in Blackwood for the town's emergency preparedness day on Saturday to show off one of our new engagement vehicles, which in times of a prolonged power outage, would give a community a place to gather, charge phones, laptop and ipads, access the internet and grab a cup of coffee.

We even spoke to some filmmakers on the day who were making a documentary about the 2021 storms.

Well done to the organisers of the day - we were proud to be there.

The rise in working from home has altered energy demands for households.

This and other findings form part of the Future Home Demand report we released last week.

The research will help us plan for the future of our business, networks and the needs of our customers.

Our Future Home Demand report revealed that households are increasingly seen as part of the family and their needs are contributing to a rise in energy demand.

Power is being used for feeding and entertaining a growing number of pets during the day.

Do you leave heating or cooling on for your pet when you’re out of the house? What about the TV or radio, or other appliances like feeding devices?

Last week, we launched the Future Home Demand report looking at household energy demand.

One of the key findings was where people prefer to charge their EVs.

We are using the research to help us plan for the future of our business, networks and the needs of our customers.

What a weekend!

Our newest engagement vehicle VERA was busy Saturday and Sunday in central Victoria, attending community events aimed at preparing for emergencies.

VERA joins MERV in our growing fleet of engagement vehicles and bolsters our community response during major outages or events.
Families at Castlemaine Emergency Expo 2023 and Community Emergency Preparedness Expo enjoyed getting to know our latest vehicle, while brushing up on how to prepare for and respond to power outages.

Yesterday we launched a new report with Monash University's Emerging Technologies Research Lab looking at our customers’ changing behaviours and energy needs.

The Future Home Demand Report explored nine areas of domestic life and identified 51 trends. These point to massive shifts in future household energy consumption and management behaviours.

There are increasing energy needs for electric vehicles, home-based care, pet care and working from home. Peak demand trends are also changing, influenced by holiday activities and major storm events.

Where to from here? We are using the research to help us plan for the future of our business, networks and the needs of our customers. It will be an important part of our regulatory reset proposals for 2026-2031.

To watch the webinar, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiNS4MvR4WI

To read the report, click here:https://media.powercor.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/12121449/Future-Home-Demand-Report-hi-res-1_compressed.pdf

We’ll be posting more about the report’s findings in the coming weeks.

media.powercor.com.au

Works are taking place on new underground power cables to help connect the Ballarat hospital precinct to an upgraded power supply, following significant local network upgrades this year.

The works will finalise the first stage of the power upgrade for the hospital precinct as part of the overall Ballarat Hospital Upgrade project.

If you're in the area, keep an eye out for footpath and traffic changes as we safely complete these works.

https://www.powercor.com.au/media-and-resources/media-centre/major-power-upgrade-for-ballarat-base-hospital-and-boost-to-network-reliability-and-capacity/

With windy conditions forecast over the coming days, we’re reminding customers to take steps to prepare and know how to respond in case of power outages.

We recently joined with the Victoria State Emergency Service to urge Victorians to plan ahead, with the remaining Spring months forecast to be warmer and drier than average, with storms, strong winds and lightning.

List of tips and details here: https://www.powercor.com.au/media-and-resources/media-centre/get-ready-now-for-windy-spring-storm-season/

We're proud to announce that CitiPower is sponsoring Electrify Boroondara.

As the network operator, CitiPower supplies safe, reliable and affordable energy to households and businesses across Melbourne.

That includes helping customers to reduce their bills and emissions with rooftop solar, electric vehicles and cutting-edge household devices.

As part of the event, CitiPower is also sponsoring the Electrification Unplugged panel, which will take a deep dive into Australia's electric future - from the transition underway in our homes to some of our nation's largest ever infrastructure projects.

🚨 DISCLAIMER: Keep scrolling if you don't want to see some amazing scenery and some of our lucky lineys who got to work in these conditions this week.

👷‍♀️ We've just completed one of the largest packages of works in the region in years, strengthening the local network ahead of summer and supporting the reliability and resilience of poles and wires in what is one of the most remote places in the entire network.

👏 Kudos to the 30 crew members from three depots – , , and – who all joined forces to complete the works, which included pole changes, transformer replacements, fuses, and insulator upgrades, as well as cross-arm replacements.

👉 Blitz in the Otways? Here's the scoop: https://www.powercor.com.au/media-and-resources/media-centre/otways-blitz-keeps-local-network-safe-and-reliable-ahead-of-summer/