Parts of Amaroo, Bonner, Forde and Gungahlin experienced a power outage last night as we posted on Facebook. This post attracted a lot of engagement from people in the affected areas. Due to the large scale of this outage we reached out to ActewAGL to find out what the cause.
Leylann Hinch, Branch Manager Assets and Network Performance provided this response: “Last night at 8.44pm 2,200 customers experienced interruptions to the electricity supply in parts of Bonner, Amaroo, Forde and Gungahlin. By 10.00pm 780 customers were restored. All customers had power restored by 10.35pm.
Usually customers can get live outage updates by visiting our website and following us on Twitter. Unfortunately system maintenance was performed on our website from 8.00pm to 10.00pm last night, which also impacted our automated outage tool on Twitter. Unplanned outages are unforeseeable and beyond ActewAGL’s reasonable control and it was unfortunate that these events coincided. While the website was unavailable last night manual updates were provided on Twitter.
This outage was caused by a fault in the underground cable network. The cause is currently under investigation and work to repair the fault has been prioritised.
We understand how inconvenient it is for our customers when the power goes out. When this happens our first priority is the safety of the public and our employees. Last night, our crews responded as quickly and safely as possible in the rainy and cold conditions.
ActewAGL has one of the most reliable networks in Australia and always strives to keep outages to a minimum. We aim to further reduce the amount of unplanned outages through our year-round planned maintenance program.
The underground cable network is less susceptible to damage from the weather and as such it generally provides a more reliable supply compared to overhead powerlines. However, when an underground fault occurs it can take longer to isolate and repair and can be more difficult to fix.
Customers can find out exactly how our crews identify and fix underground faults by having a look at a recent article published in the Canberra Times.”
Remember you will know about an unplanned power outage before ActewAGL. They have systems in place to update their website and send out the auto Tweet updates via Twitter however this does take a little bit of time and isn’t instant. As per the Canberra Times they do have measures in place for them to be notified of faults but it can take time for them to locate the actual fault and then repair. If you have a power outage check outside to confirm if it is just your premises or the neighbourhood. Then allow a few minutes for their outages web page to be updated.
Loading ...
