Planned Outages
When we need to interrupt your supply
Sometimes we need to interrupt your supply to carry out essential maintenance. This is called a planned outage.
We appreciate the inconvenience that interruptions cause to our customers and we try wherever possible to carry out work while the lines are live. However, on some occasions, power lines and cables have to be switched out for safety reasons, as it would be otherwise too dangerous for our network repair crews to work on them.
Keeping you informed of an outage
We’ll always send you a notification card at least two days in advance if we have to interrupt your electricity supply for maintenance work. Planned outages are shown as an amber pin on PowerCheck, along with updates on over-runs.
Giving you notice of a planned outage
If your electricity supply is going to be interrupted for maintenance work, we'll send you a notification card at least two working days in advance.
Find out more here:
Distribution Service Guarantee
(PDF | 1 MB)
The card will give you an estimate of the time and duration of the outage. While the vast majority of planned outages are completed within the estimated time, there will be occasions when the work takes longer due to technical or safety reasons.
Keep your freezer closed
Freezer contents will remain safe for up to 24 hours without electricity if the freezer is kept closed. Typical interruptions are eight hours or less in duration so the contents of your freezer should remain perfectly safe. See more tips on preparing for a power cut.
Surge Protection
All electricity networks are occasionally subject to variations in voltage due to lightning, storms or other causes of damage. Your own electrical installation can also sometimes cause voltage variations. These variations may interfere with the effective functioning of sensitive appliances or equipment.
You can use a surge protection device or SPD to protect sensitive electronic equipment
- Ask your registered Electrical Contractor to install an SPD on your distribution board or
- Use a socket board/extension lead with built -in SPD - available widely from good retailers.
