By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
MILLGROVE residents are fed up with extended power outages in their community while AusNet conducts work on power lines in the area.
Barbara Mutsaers, president of the Warburton Senior Citizens Club, said power outages in Millgrove have extended beyond a reasonable timeframe and caused problems for residents.
“On Friday 9 October, we were without power for more than 12 hours,” she said.
“The power was out from 8.20am and supposed to come back at 3.30pm but we had no power until 8.50pm.”
The Electricity Distribution Code does not specify any legal maximum duration for a planned power outage but does state “the distributor must use best endeavours to restore the customer’s supply as quickly as possible.”
AusNet Services spokesperson Hugo Armstrong said the outage on Friday 9 October was extended due to the failure of a new length of cable after it had been erected.
“Outages of this length are rare, and we apologise for the inconvenience experienced by members of the affected community,” he said.
Treasurer of the Warburton Senior Citizens Club Frank Mutsaers said they understood maintenance needed to take place but the length of the power outages was unreasonable.
“We understand and we agree that the infrastructure needs replacing and looking after,” he said.
“But AusNet needs to be considerate of the elderly people living in the valley that are not able to cope with things like this.”
Mr Mutsaers said these extended outages had been going on for more than 12 months.
“It’s not an isolated occurrence,” he said.
State MP Cindy McLeish met with Millgrove residents last week and assured residents she will address this issue.
“The Millgrove community has asked me to take this issue further and I will be preparing a petition to be tabled in the Victorian Parliament.”
