Started around 3:30PM and ongoing in areas. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iYPg2NJP7fU&noapp=1
My question is should people seek compensation for their spoilt refrigerated items, or what do? đ§đ§
Victoria Power Outage & Storm 13/02/2024
capslock janitor on 13/02/2024 - 22:59
Last edited 14/02/2024 - 00:06
Last edited 14/02/2024 - 00:06
Comments
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My mums 210kg bottle last her a long time now its just her.
We had 45kg ones for hot water. For cooking only, even that would last years.
210kg sounds like a lifetime supply. How old is your mum? :)
i got my power back at 8pm luckily, but my mates around the SE got notified that power wont be restored until 15-18th
12 hours at home. but at one time had an ETA of 15th. initial ETA was 6 hours.
24 hours at work. but had an ETA of the 18th at one point.
Hope everyone is ok! Well, that storm was absolutely wild. Iâve never ever experienced anything like that before. I was on the road at the time and had to find a side street to stop on without any trees around because the winds were so strong and I literally couldnât see further than 1 meter ahead of me with how much rain there was, it was all just grey outside the car. Tail lights couldnât be seen more than a couple meters ahead.
When I decided to start driving again after the rain had stopped there were traffic lights knocked out everywhere I went, and this was around 15:45 when the roads were starting to get busier due to school pickup. There were a lot more impatient morons on the road too, generally in the past from my experience when traffic lights have been knocked out people sort of figure out a cadence naturally but yesterday it seemed like complete chaos with people not bothering to stop to let others go.
Went out again a couple of hours later and the lights were still down and I had never ever seen so many fallen leaves and fallen tree branches on the roads and on nature strips. I went to the shops and everything was shut because there was no power.
Throughout the night Iâve been hearing sirens intermittently nearby. Street lights are all out still, went for a walk tonight and everything was pitch black except for solar garden lights.
Just read this article, looks like itâs going to take a while to restore for some people which isnât surprising considering how insane the winds were.
The internet wasnât working on my phone for about 6 or 7 hours either. Just absolutely insane storm, and quite typical Melbourne weather because when I went out again afterwards the roads were pretty dry due to how hot it was earlier in the day. Literally felt like the end of days for a moment there.
Hope you get power back OP, if you have home and contents insurance you might be able to get compensation for spoiled food, might want to look into that.
yeah i lost power about 3 minutes before the weather hit. was hot, but completely calm and the power went out. I thought "oh shit everyone's air conditioning has overloaded the grid" i got up to switch computers off at the wall so they didn't get damaged when the power came back. then the storm hit.
most intense storm I've ever seen. couldn't see 15 metres across to the other side of the road. wind was chaotic and rain was intense. then got a bit of hail (but not the biggest i've seen).
tree branches down all over the neighbours driveways, road etc. only one onto a roof, and even only slightly, so we were pretty lucky. had a forestry volunteer group come through Wed arvo helping make trees safe. and clear some of the bigger stuff the neighbours couldn't do ourselves.
Are you in the east or south east? Those areas definitely got hit the hardest. And yeah, the hail was only marble sized from what I saw thankfully.
The news said wind speeds got up to 150 km/hr, it was mental. Definitely lucky to not have any damage to your property I think.
Oakleigh east. west of me didn't seem to get hit. east of me seemed to all get hit. so i'm wondering if we were where the storm first touched down?
no large trees on my block. so more proper planning than luck.
nature strip has a huge tree but it is kept pretty trimmed as the power lines run through it. it is deciduous. i always thought it was an elm though forestry guy mentioned oak when he was helping trim it yesterday.
@Antikythera: Ah I see. From what I saw on the radar the storm swept west to east across the entire city, but I think it must've picked up more in the east for some reason.
Lucky no branches snapped on that oak, I saw a few power lines that were downed because of broken branches from trees on nature strips.
If you keep the fridge mostly closed it is unlikely you will get spoilage in the time it takes for the power to get back up. Always have ice bricks in your freezer to use for the fridge and freezer to keep them cold. A bit of forethought should keep you safe.
That's not going to help op get compensation for his "suffering". Also expecting op to have forethought is a bit much.
We always have ice bricks on the go because we take an insulated bag when we go shopping at Costco. We took it with us today when we bought ice cream because it was so hot we figured it would melt before we got it home. We had our souped up Asian grandma shopping trolley.
Yes, but you aren't op, luckily for you.
@brendanm: Given the severity of the damage in some areas some people will be affected longer than others. However, for many people they can use strategies to maximise the length of time they can function until the power comes back on. As some people have indicated they moved their perishables to their relatives place. Some people have got power back earlier than they were quoted. With a bit of lateral thinking the majority will be OK. My first thoughts are, usually, about what strategies do I have and then whether compensation is warranted if I suffer genuine loss. I donât wonder on the first day if I will get compensation.
@try2bhelpful: Sorry, I wasn't having a go at you if it came across that way, was having a go at op and his demand for compensation.
@brendanm: No probs. I think we are on a pretty similar wavelength then.
People complain about the costs of insurance, and taxes, but the first thing they think of when an issue happens is how do I get compensation. The first thought should be how do I minimise the damage and how can I get through this. Then if you experience real loss you go look.
If you keep the fridge mostly closed it is unlikely you will get spoilage in the time it takes for the power to get back up
The vic gov website says to throw out the food after 4 hours.
https://www.health.vic.gov.au/food-safety/food-safety-duringâŚ
Actually read what it says. Once the food is not cold to the touch then throw it out after 4 hours.
Not for 2 days
I was indoors and didnt notice anything until going out for dinner. Was shocked at so many trees being ripped apart.
Hope everyone is ok.
Wow. It's not hard to work out who's pocket Sky News is in.
I watched the news report and the number of factual errors made within a couple of minutes was amazing.
Batteries like the Hornsdale battery in SA are not 'backup' batteries for the grid. They're frequency control batteries. Scott Morrison made the error of thinking this is a backup battery for the state and ran with it, and people on the right have been repeating that false statement for many years.
Bishop mentioned we can look forward to more blackouts with renewable power. Umm, did she watch the videos and see the report? Transmission towers were destroyed. Whether they're connected to solar, wind, gas, coal, etc makes no difference to the destruction.
Bishop also said 'so called' renewables and quickly added a snide remark that they're not and are 'factories'. Umm, what? It takes around 18 months for solar panels to generate the power used to create them. How is that not renewable? I've had panels on my roof for almost 12 years and they're still performing well, but this would make Boomers disgusted and say it's simply not true.
I'm a Boomer with panels but I can see your point. In fact mine are guaranteed for 20 years and have a life of 40 years. I suspect if remote towns had community batteries and people with solar on their roofs then temporary outages wouldn't be such an issue.
You are also correct that the transmission lines are independent of power generation. We lost coal powered generators yesterday.
The dissenters are running out of runway so they are, desperate, to say anything that stops this going ahead.
Sue God. After all the insurance companies define the storms as Acts of God. Doesnât usually work but it will keep you busy.
Can I call bikies on god?
You could try the Hellâs Angels.
I did a double take when your user name wasnât jv
After the power went out the 5G network was obviously swamped with usage as the network was extremely slow
For household lighting when we lost power for several days on Christmas day the lateral thinkers here said "use your solar Christmas lights or purchase some solar garden lights from that big green shed".
There was NO 5G Optus home broadband for a week.sending thoughts and prayers
Geez people can get cranky when the internet and TV are out due to wild weather causing power outages.
Lucky they get to wake up to a new day, shop for bargains & enjoy life (if they know how to) unlike hundreds of thousands of other people around the world
We recently lost power in Queensland storms. We have contents insurance that covered $1000 of food spoilage with no excess and no need for receipts. Many other people had less coverage though, so it depends on your insurance.
Once it was declared an emergency the state government released means tested payments (fairly generous income limits) and later on the federal government also made a payment available. These were to help with costs, especially spoiled food.
Lost power and ETA was Thursday arvo, but luckily it came back this morning while getting ready for work
Moved all our fridge/freezer stuff to my parents 2 suburbs away who were not impacted
When we opened the fridge last night at like 10pm everything was still very cold so probably could have lasted till morning - but I wasn't confident on lasting 48 hours if the original estimate was accurate.
A storm is an act of god.
Sue god.
Seems like anyone can these days in Victoria.
With most insurance companies you can claim up to $500 in food without paying any excess. Some do up to $1000. Check your PDS.
Just do it, this is exactly the purpose of insurance, what are you even paying for if you don't use it? Not claiming because your premium is going to go up is nonsensical and irrelevant in the current climate as they're ALL going up regardless, you might as well get your bang for buck. If you pay monthly, just go get insurance elsewhere before the claim wraps up if its looking good, then you don't have to say yes to having claimed previously until you change again.
In the xmas tornado on the gold coast I claimed over $700 in food as we had no power for 2 days. They didn't require any proof or even a breakdown of the food items. Don't be shy, your fridge is full of spreads, sauces, expensive cheese platters, briskets etc.
Power came back on after just a short loss but home internet, phone even the emergency calls(7.30pm to 8.00pm) were not available in Wellington Shire, Victoria if your with Telstra.
Seems like Telstra had an issue because noting around Baw Baw this morning either.
This is where Starlink is great, gets you online for internet and phone (WiFi Calling). Just need a generator or another power source to get it going.
True, I was actually surprised I had no internet connectivity at all. I can't say that's ever happened before when I've been in a blackout. Felt a little apocalyptic really, in the sense that I was completely cut off from what was happening in other suburbs, if other states knew what was going on, if the entire state lost power. I drove around and into the next suburb over not long after the power went out and power was out everywhere so I thought it could've been the entire metro area that lost power. Driving around and seeing that basically all traffic lights were out in a 4-5 km radius was something I'd never experienced before. It was kind of thrilling honestly lol.
PSA: I see people are being told to throw food out after 4 hrs, but that only applies to high-risk items like cooked leftovers.
Things like milk, cheese or raw meat will have their shelf life reduced. Anything with a "best before" is very low risk.
People survived for thousands of years without fridges, they knew what kept and what didn't.I found a lot of guidance quite confusing tbh - some suggested it was 4h since outage (longer for freezer obviously) and others 4h of being above 5c/warm to touch.
iTs nOt ClImAtE ChaNgE?12?
It's probably different state to state but in QLD you have to have lost power for over 38 hours before you can claim for spoilage.
Surely most OzBargainers here have a solar system, and a Tesla Powerwall 2 or some other solar battery to see them through such power outages.
Surely most OzBargainers here have a solar system
Most live in one…
You appear to be an exception…
Every time I do the sums for solar PV batteries the payback period is between 7 to 10 years, depending on the assumptions made. Basically at, or near the warranty period just to get a $0 return. No thanks.
Surely most OzBargainers here have a solar system, and a Tesla Powerwall 2 or some other solar battery to see them through such power outages.
Yes, but some solar systems only work when there is power to the grid. So my solar system won't work if there is no grid power.
I don't have a battery system as the sums don't add up.
Second post here but there's an update/change
Tuesday: Power went out , was given ETA of Thursday 1pm to fix
Wednesday: Power returned in the morning while getting ready for work - yay can make a coffee
Wednesday: Return from work and power lost again, ETA updated to Thursday 8:30pm
Thursday: Just got a new update with ETA of Friday 9:00pmLuckily moved all groceries to my parents place but still slight annoyance.
Fully recognise many others are doing it tougher.
(this is Oakleigh area)
Oakleigh east. out around 3:30. back on 4am.
work. Moorabbin. back on Wed 1:30 pm. actually kinda funny, part of work is on a different grid, same large block of land, and they never lost power.
for home the initial estimate was 9:30pm tuesday so i just kept all the fridges closed.
then I got an estimate of 15th. so i went looking to buy some ice around midnight.
put all my food into esky.Chadstone block was lit up and the servos etc near corner of warrugul and dandy road was all open.
Hungry Jacks was busy as. I assume it was the first open fast food for miles (everything east to like dandenong was out apparently.)I live really close to that corner of Warrigal and Dandenong Road and to be honest, nothing ever happened to our power. I didn't even know others in Victoria were suffering that much because the storm here didn't seem that bad compared to previous ones, at least from what I could tell. For example I counted the time between the lightning flash and sound and it was about 2 seconds apart.
A couple years ago our NBN box literally burnt because thunder struck really close to here and fried it, ever since then I've been counting the time to just basically decide if it's a storm that I need to be worried about or not. That's why hearing that Oakleigh, somewhere so close, suffered outages seems so unreal to me.
seems so unreal to me.
That seems to be the general case going from these comments. It hit some people less than others so they think that it wasn't a bad storm. It clearly sounds like it was worse in the east and south east, and certainly in my entire life I've never experienced what I did that day when I was on the road and I've driven in some pretty hairy storms before. There was a moment where I felt like I was about to panic; couldn't tell how much water was covering the road because I couldn't see far outside the window, couldn't see far ahead of the car (tail lights disappeared completely after 1-2 meters), the noise of hail hitting the car was really intense.
The news mentioned it was one of the most destructive storms we've had in a while. Compared to other storms we've had in the past (e.g. 2010 or 2011 where there was the golf ball sized hail) the damage was probably more localised to some suburbs, but looking at the news there are plenty of trees that are uprooted and I'm pretty sure it's not easy to uproot a tree (winds reached 150 km/hr from what I heard).
@Ghost47: Looking at the BOM whilst it was happening we seemed to get a bunch of intense cells rather than a general front. This is, probably, why some areas are more affected than others.
@try2bhelpful: I see, I didn't really look at the radar during the time but I saw the image on this article. I thought it was a very long and narrow storm cloud that moved west to east during the day.
In Carnegie. got a txt message saying our power will be out till the 15th so i went out and pulled out the extension cables to use our EV with V2L. Power were restored about 5am next morning but nbn still out for us and Telstra 4G were out for at least 24hrs working now but still laggy.
nbn still out for us
FTTC Oakleigh east. power came up 4:10 am Wed. NBN was working as soon as I had power and rock solid ever since.
have you tried rebooting your NCD and router?
Yep. also called my ISP and checked nbn network status it's still down. 4G network on both optus and telstra all has issues with slow connection atm. I had V2L powering the house nbn was down both during the black out and after power is connected.
Just hit the 60 hour mark. Still no power.
Food loss: Distributors do not automatically have to compensate for food loss resulting from an outage. Generally, spoilt food will only be considered payable under the Guideline if the appliance storing the food is damaged as a result of the power surge. You should keep records or proof of the food items lost (such as photos, itemised lists and receipts), before you throw anything away.
So no claim can be made for food. And no I don't have contents insurance. GG
"Hardship payments for customers without power for a week or more
Ms Allan said a joint state and federal government payment was being made available to those who were without power for a week or more.
She said the "prolonged power-outage payments" would be administered by electricity distributors and made available as soon as possible.The payments are set at $1,920 per week for up to three weeks for residents and $2,927 per week for small businesses, Ms Allan said."
Ausnet GSL - https://www.ausnetservices.com.au/electricity/compensation-aâŚ
United Energy GSL - https://www.unitedenergy.com.au/network-management/network-pâŚThere is a mention of $90 MED payment at least with potentially another $130-$380.
and some news from ESA talking about eligibility to claim GSL on this storm
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/nearly-30000-withâŚ
"An Essential Services Commission spokesperson told the Herald Sun said that in addition, to the government payments, Victorian energy customers affected by recent outages could be eligible for payments from energy distributors under the commissionâs Guaranteed Service Level (GSL) payment scheme. "
âOur scheme provides payments to recognise general poor service from distributors over the course of a year, including long or repeated outages, similar to those outages experienced over the last week,â she said.
âPayments will differ by customer, depending on the nature and specific cause of the outage. Payments range from $90 to $380, depending on circumstances. We encourage affected customers to also contact insurance providers to inquire of other claims, and their distributor if they are eligible for further claims outside of those covered by our GSL scheme and the Victorian Governmentâs relief package.â
Hope this helps folks
I'm up in the 'Hills' in Vic, and we still don't have power. We only got our mobile receipt back on Thursday/Friday.
It's been real fun times. Last time we had a huge storm like this, the power didn't come back on for 10 days.
Here's hoping that is not the case this time around. :(Fingers crossed for you.
Now heard a bang outside in the distance at 1:30am, power out again …
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False premise JV. You don't need piped gas for a gas cooktop.
In fact, if cooking is the only thing you use gas for, I'd recommend 9kg (BBQ) bottles anyway.
Also, everyone should have a butane camp stove for emergencies. They are like $20.