January 16, 2024
Severe weather related outages
Significant thunderstorm and bushfire activity has significantly impacted parts of the network, affecting power supply to around 33,000 homes and businesses. See below for updates about storm and fire affected outages, as well as specific details about outages in the Kalgoorlie and Perth Hills areas.
If you're affected by power outages lasting 12 hours or more, you may be eligible for an Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected.
All storm related outages
We understand the frustration and inconvenience extended power outages cause and are contacting those customers who remain affected.
Work has involved the inspection of about 40,000 assets, the repair and replacement of more than 300 poles, more than 80 transformers, and around 21kms of conductor across the network.
Wheatbelt
Today we have 17 teams working in the Wheatbelt and the re-patrol of the spur line in Tammin is expected to be completed. Overnight we restored customers in Beacon, Manmanning, Gabbin, Korrelocking and Wialki, among others.
Goldfields
Power has been restored to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area through a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator. Work is progressing well on the rebuild of the five transmission towers on the 220kV transmission line to Kalgoorlie. The rebuild involves drilling into rock to install 12 steel poles to erect the towers along the 2.5km work site. Following successful drilling, today work has commenced on standing up poles, with the aim of standing up six today. Following this crossarms will be fitted, conductor strung, moving and clipping conductors as required, installing spacers, and stringing additional earth wire before final checks and energisation of the line. We aim to have construction completed early next week.
Gingin, Lennard Brook, Mooliabeenee bushfire
Repairs to the majority of the damaged network in the area have been completed and power has been restored. There are four customers in the Lennard Brook and Bindoon areas that remain without power due to isolated network damage. Our crews have left connection packs with information for these customers with a form for electricians to use and action repairs, and sign-off on the repairs for re-energisation. Once completed power will be restored as quickly and safely as possible.
We would also like to remind customers to treat all damaged infrastructure as live. If you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe.
As an acknowledgement of inconvenience experienced, customers who have experienced an outage for longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected. This payment has been increased from $120 to $240.
Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
Please note: No further updates will be issued. Our community engagement team will continue to liaise with key stakeholders in the Wheatbelt regarding the remaining customers without power; and in the Goldfields while the area is supported on stable power supply during islanding while the re-build of the damaged section of the 220kV line is being completed.
Western Power crews continued to make good progress since our update yesterday repairing the network and restoring power supply with around 400 homes and businesses restored and more expected later today.
Around 500 customers (down from 860 yesterday afternoon) remain without power in the Wheatbelt. Power has been restored to all impacted customers in the Perth Hills and Goldfields regions.
We understand the frustration and inconvenience extended power outages cause and assure customers we’re doing everything we can to repair significant damage and restore power supply.
Around 195 poles were damaged due to the bushfires and storms and crews have repaired 179 of those. Yesterday crews repaired 39 poles, 65 conductors and changed eight transformers.
Wheatbelt
Work underway today:
- Crews are working to restore power to 52 customers in Wialki, 36 in Beacon, 21 in Bonnie Rock, 19 in Karlgarin, 16 in Cleary, 16 in Tammin, 14 in Karlonging and 10 in Wongan Hills surrounds.
- Crews are also working to have all remaining customers in Gingin restored today.
- There are currently 15 crews working across the network from north of Wongan Hills to Tammin.
- Crews are actively working to energise the main line north of Koorda today.
- Crews are also patrolling lines north of Koorda by helicopter and by vehicle to identify damage. Once patrols are complete, repairs will commence.
Crews are also working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to 29 customers in Manmanning, 24 in Minnivale, 21 Korrelocking, 16 in Wyalkatchem and 13 in Mollerin. It is estimated these customers will be restored tomorrow.
Crews are working in challenging circumstances across a large area of damaged network assets to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, we ask the community to please treat them with respect.
Goldfields
Power has been restored to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area through a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator.
Work is progressing well on the rebuild of the five transmission towers on the 220kV transmission line to Kalgoorlie. Construction exploration work started last Sunday and steel poles have been delivered to site. The rebuild involves drilling into rock to install 12 steel poles to erect the towers along the 2.5km work site. Ten holes have been completed and there are 2 remaining. Following this crossarms will be fitted, conductor strung, moving and clipping conductors as required, installing spacers, and stringing additional earth wire before final checks and energisation of the line. We aim to have construction completed early next week.
We would also like to remind customers to treat all damaged infrastructure as live. If you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe.
As an acknowledgement of inconvenience experienced, customers who have experienced an outage for longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected. This payment has been increased from $120 to $240.
Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
Western Power crews continued to make good progress since yesterday afternoon repairing the network and restoring power supply with over 50 homes and businesses restored and more expected later today.
Around 900 customers (down from 950 yesterday afternoon) remain without power, 860 in the Wheatbelt and around 40 in Perth Hills. Power has been restored to all impacted customers across the Goldfields region.
We understand the frustration and inconvenience extended power outages cause and assure customers we’re doing everything we can to repair significant damage and restore power supply.
Work underway today:
Wheatbelt
- Crews are continuing work to restore around 220 remaining customers in Wongan Hills. Technical issues with underground cable yesterday delayed restoration. Crews are continuing the repair of the 46 damaged poles and expect to restore all remaining customers today.
- Western Power crews have replaced or repaired 142 out of the 189 poles that were damaged.
- All 3 phase lines have been patrolled and have been switched on.
- Work is continuing to repair 400 conductors.
With high fire weather conditions, we cannot safely restore power until we patrol and conditions ease to ensure safety of the community and our crews. Repair work requires 10,000 asset patrols in total and our crews have completed around 5000 since Sunday.
Crews are aiming to have all customers in Gingin restored by tomorrow.
Perth Hills
- Construction crews and teams continuing work on re-connections in the area.
- 1300m of LV Aerial Bundle Cable has been run in the Perth Hills.
Goldfields
Power has been restored to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area through a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator.
An engineering team had been tasked with developing the rebuild of the five transmission towers on the 220kV transmission line near Kalgoorlie, and we’ve been preparing for this since the storm last Thursday with steel poles already on site, sourcing of specialist equipment underway and construction exploration work starting last Sunday. The rebuild involves drilling into rock to install 12 steel poles to erect the towers along the 2.5km work site. Following this crossarms will be fitted, conductor strung, moving and clipping conductors as required, installing spacers, and stringing additional earth wire before final checks and energisation of the line. We aim to have construction completed early next week.
Crews are working in challenging circumstances across a large area of damaged network assets to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, we ask the community to please treat them with respect.
We would also like to remind customers to treat all damaged infrastructure as live. If you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe.
As an acknowledgement of inconvenience experienced, customers who have experienced an outage for longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected. This payment has been increased from $120 to $240.
Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
Western Power crews continued to make good progress today repairing the network and restoring power supply with 150 homes and businesses restored with more expected later today.
Around 950 (down from 1,100 this morning) customers remain without power, 900 in the Wheatbelt where the largest outage located in Wongan Hills involves significant bushfire recovery work, and around 50 in Perth Hills. Power has been restored to all impacted customers across the Goldfields region.
We understand the frustration and inconvenience extended power outages cause and assure customers we’re doing everything we can to repair significant damage and restore power supply.
Work underway today:
Wheatbelt
- Western Power crews have replaced or repaired 142 out of the 189 poles that were damaged.
- All 3 phase lines have been patrolled and have been switched on with 46 patrols conducted yesterday.
- Crews inspected 6531 network assets looked at yesterday.
- Five crews are continuing work on the Wongan Hills fire ground changing poles with the aim of restoring power today. There were 46 poles down and 35 of these were completed as of yesterday, the rest is being worked on today.
- Work is continuing to repair the 400 conductors.
With high fire weather conditions, we cannot safely restore power until we patrol and conditions ease to ensure safety of the community and our crews. Repair work requires 10,000 asset patrols in total and our crews did 3000 yesterday and are continuing the patrol of 2000 more today.
Crews are aiming to have all customers in Gingin restored by Wednesday. All pole repairs in Gingin should be completed today.
Perth Hills
- Crews continuing repair work in Mt Helena, Gidgegannup, Stoneville and Mundaring areas.
- Construction crews and teams continuing work on re-connections in the area.
- 1300m of LV Aerial Bundle Cable has been run in the Perth Hills.
Goldfields
Power has been restored to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area through a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator.
Work is continuing to assess options and finalise the solution for the rebuild of the 220kV transmission line. Poles were transported to site yesterday and work commenced to source specialist equipment needed. Initial construction exploration began yesterday and we expect rebuild work to take 7 or 8 days.
Crews are working in challenging circumstances across a large area of damaged network assets to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, we ask the community to please treat them with respect.
We would also like to remind customers to treat all damaged infrastructure as live. If you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe.
As an acknowledgement of inconvenience experienced, customers who have experienced an outage for longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected. This payment has been increased from $120 to $240.
Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
Western Power crews made significant headway over the weekend in repairing the network and restoring power supply to 27,00 homes and businesses who were impacted by recent storms.
Around 1,100 (down from 3,800 on Saturday) remain without power, 1000 in the Wheatbelt where the largest outage located in Wongan Hills involves significant bushfire recovery work, and 100 in Perth Hills. Power has been restored to all impacted customers across the Goldfields region.
We understand the frustration and inconvenience extended power outages cause and assure customers we’re doing everything we can to repair significant damage and restore power supply.
Work being undertaken today include:
Wheatbelt
- fault work on a spur line in Dowerin
- nine crews are patrolling lines between Dowerin, Wongan Hills and Bencubbin
- helicopter patrols in around Kalannie
- five crews working on the Wongan Hills fire ground changing poles. There were 46 poles down and 35 of these were completed as of yesterday.
Overall damage to the network in this region included 182 poles damaged (excluding Wongan Hills bushfire site where there were 46) with 102 poles repaired and work ongoing and 400 conductors being repaired.
With high fire weather conditions, we cannot safely restore power until we patrol and conditions ease to ensure safety of the community and our crews. Repair work requires 10,000 asset patrols in total and our crews did 3000 yesterday and will do 2000 today.
Perth Hills
- Crews continuing repair work in Mt Helena, Gidgegannup, Stoneville and Mundaring areas.
- All the main HV lines were restored late yesterday, today work will concentrate on connecting power supply to customers
- There will be 13 construction crews and six teams working on re-connections in the area.
Goldfields
Power has been restored to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area through a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator.
Work is continuing to assess options and finalise the solution for the rebuild of the 220kV transmission line. Poles were transported to site yesterday and work commenced to source specialist equipment needed. Initial construction exploration began yesterday and we expect rebuild work to take 7 or 8 days.
Crews are working in challenging circumstances across a large area of damaged network assets to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, we ask the community to please treat them with respect.
We would also like to remind customers to treat all damaged infrastructure as live. If you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe.
As an acknowledgement of inconvenience experienced, customers who have experienced an outage for longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected. This payment has been increased from $120 to $240.
Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
Across the network there are around 2,400 customers without power as a result of widespread network damage due to bushfires and two severe storm fronts that moved through the region this week. This is down from 3,800 yesterday afternoon.
There are around 400 customers without power in the Perth Hills and around 1800 in the Wheatbelt. Power has been restored to all impacted customers across the Goldfields region.
Crews have made further progress in restoration in the Perth Hills with 361 customers in Gidgegannup and surrounds restored since this morning. Crews are have also been working to repair and restore power supply in parts of Stoneville and surrounds.
While numbers continue to fluctuate in the Wheatbelt, crews have been working to restore customers in Wongan Hills, Kalanie, Ballidu and Cadoux.
The innovative solution put in place in Kalgoorlie on Thursday evening to supply power via the undamaged section of the 220KV line using the 132KV network continues to successfully supply power to over 10,000 customers in the Goldfields.
Eight emergency response generators have been deployed to the Goldfields. We have been working with local stakeholders including the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder to establish the areas of greatest need in the community including to cover businesses including the health clinic and other services.
Kalgoorlie is currently being powered by a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator.
A cross-functional team has worked collaboratively to assess options and finalise the solution for the rebuild of the 220kV transmission line. Poles were transported to site yesterday and work commenced to source specialist equipment needed. Construction is due to begin on site today and we expect this work to take 7 or 8 days.
With a significant number of outages and some areas having been impacted by multiple incidents (e.g. bushfire and storm) outage numbers have been fluctuating. It has been difficult for our teams to provide complete and accurate numbers but we will endeavour to keep the community informed with information we have available.
While some restorations times are unknown, rest assured we have all available crews working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to all remaining customers. We are prioritising critical services’ infrastructure in collaboration with State Government agencies including health, water, and Police.
All planned work has been cancelled, except underground-specific works and works that are critical for fault response resources. All available resources have been assigned to the recovery effort.
Crews are working in challenging circumstances across a large number of hazards to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, we ask the community to please treat them with respect.
We would also like to remind customers to treat all damaged infrastructure as live. If you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe.
As an acknowledgement of inconvenience experienced, customers who have experienced an outage for longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected. This payment has been increased from $120 to $240.
Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
We understand the frustration and inconvenience the extended power outages are causing customers. We are continuing work to repair significant damage to the network and restore power supply.
Across the network there are around 3,800 customers without power as a result of widespread network damage due to bushfires and two severe storm fronts that moved through the region this week. This is down from down from 4,300 this morning.
There are about 1,250 customers without power in the Perth Hills, approximately 2,000 in the Wheatbelt, and around 100 customers, largely commercial, in the Goldfields region.
Crews have made good progress toward restoration in the Perth Hills today with a further 550 customers restored since this morning including in Stoneville among other areas. Crews are currently working to repair and restore power supply in parts of Mundaring and Gidgegannup and surrounds.
While numbers in the Wheatbelt are fluctuating, customers in Dandaragan have been restored. Crews are continuing work to restore customers in areas surrounding Lake Grace and Merredin as well as Dowerin and Wyalkatchem.
Crews have also completed bushfire recovery works in Chittering, Gingin and Bindoon. Crews from Picton, Vasse and Bridgetown continue to work at the Gingin bushfire repair site.
Crews have also made good progress toward restoration in the Goldfields today with around 560 customers restored since this morning. Crews are working to bring around 100 remaining commercial customers back on gradually.
The innovative solution put in place on Thursday evening to supply power via the undamaged section of the 220KV line using the 132KV network continues to successfully supply power to over 10,000 customers in the Goldfields.
Eight emergency response generators have been deployed to the Goldfields. We have been working with local stakeholders including the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder to establish the areas of greatest need in the community including the health clinic.
Kalgoorlie is currently being powered by a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator. Our teams will continue to assess other options for further restoration of the commercial sites near Black Flag and West Kalgoorlie.
A cross-functional team has worked collaboratively to assess options and finalise the solution for the rebuild of the 220kV transmission line. Poles are being transported to site today and work has commenced to source specialist equipment needed. Construction is due to begin on tomorrow and we expect this work to take 7 or 8 days.
With a significant number of outages and some areas having been impacted by multiple incidents (eg. bushfire and storm) outage numbers have been fluctuating. It has been difficult for our teams to provide complete and accurate numbers but we will endeavour to keep the community informed with information we have available.
While some restorations times are unknown, rest assured we have all available crews working as quickly and safely as possible to restore power to all remaining customers. We are prioritising critical services’ infrastructure in collaboration with State Government agencies including health, water, and Police.
All planned work is cancelled, except underground-specific works and works that are critical for fault response resources. Spare resources will be assigned to the recovery effort.
Crews are working in challenging circumstances across a large number of hazards to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, we ask the community to please treat them with respect.
We would also like to remind customers to treat all damaged infrastructure as live. If you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe.
As an acknowledgement of inconvenience experienced, customers who have experienced an outage for longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected. This payment has been increased from $120 to $240.
Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
Significant progress has been made to restore power to around 11,700 homes and businesses in the Goldfields area including the Kalgoorlie, Merredin, Boulder and Kellerberrin townsites and 30,000 in other storm affected areas.
Currently there are 8,800 homes and businesses without power across the network including 3500 in Perth Hills, 700 in parts of the Goldfields and 2000 in the Wheatbelt.
Western Power Executive Asset Operations Zane Christmas said though current restorations times were still being determined, the aim was to restore power to more customers today in Sawyers Valley, Glen Forrest, Mount Helena, Mundaring, Brookton, and Gidgegannup, among others.
Work is continuing in bushfire affected areas to repair and restore power to 66 customers in Bindoon, 52 customers in Lennard Brook, 5 customers Mooliabeenee, and 4 customers in Gingin. At least 38 poles were damaged and required repair and replacement. Crews are back on site today completing repair works as a priority.
Mr Christmas said while there has been considerable progress there was still considerable work to be done to repair the extensive damage to the network and the aim was to get power back on to most customers in the next few days. There will be some customers who remain without power for a longer duration.
Community and crews’ safety is paramount. We urge the community to treat all damaged infrastructure as live.
We would like to remind everyone, that if you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make the Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe.
We understand the frustration and inconvenience the current power outages are causing and assure the community we are working to repair and restore their power supply.
Full customer restoration will take a number of days and we are prioritising critical services infrastructure in collaboration with State Government agencies including health, water, and Police.
Crews have made good progress at restoration from Tuesday’s storm which caused significant damage to the network
Power has been restored 24,000 of these customers and will work methodically and safely to restore more customers over coming days. There are currently around 9,200 customers that are without power as a result of these storm and bushfire related outages.
Current restorations times are unknown. Until our crews are able to thoroughly assess the damage and the repairs required we cannot provide an accurate restoration time. We’re communicating directly with customers affected.
All planned work is cancelled, except underground-specific works and works that are critical for fault response resources. Spare resources will be assigned to the recovery effort.
Full customer restoration will take a number of days and we are prioritising key sites requested by emergency services, critical infrastructure in areas where hospitals and other emergency services are located, high voltage bulk transmission lines that supply power to thousands of customers, and localised faults that affect clusters of homes and businesses.
We urge the community to treat all damaged infrastructure as live – just because your home or area is without power does not mean that all infrastructure in the area is non-operational.
On the ground, the safety of our crews and the community are of the highest importance. That’s why customers may see crews attending a location where damage has occurred and then departing before power is restored. Our initial goal is to make damaged infrastructure safe prior to repair and restoration and we are working to complete these jobs as soon as safe to do so.
Customers who have experienced an outage for longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected.
If you see a fallen power line, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe. Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
We understand the frustration and inconvenience the current power outages are causing and want to provide you with an update on the situation.
Crews have made good progress at restoration from Tuesday’s storm despite significant damage to our infrastructure and the surrounding area. At the peak of the storm incident, about 34,000 customers were without power. We have since restored about 18,000 of these customers and will work methodically and safely to restore more customers as the evening progresses and over coming days.
Overnight another severe storm front impacted a large portion of our network in the Central Wheatbelt, Goldfields, South Coastal and Great Southern and districts, with outages experienced due to damaging weather in Kalgoorlie, Merredin, Kellerberrin and surrounds and Walpole. There are an additional 13,000 customers without power in that area – down from around 23,000 yesterday evening.
A total of 31,500 customers are currently without power across the network. About 7000 customers in the Perth Hills are without power and we are working to restore these customers today. Crews have also mustered to complete bushfire recovery works in Chittering, Gingin and Bindoon.
We know that there are still some customers who are without power following earlier severe weather (bushfire, storms and heatwave) conditions, rest assured we know your outages have been extended and frustrating and we are working hard to restore you as soon as we can.
All planned work is cancelled, except underground-specific works and works that are critical for fault response resources. Spare resources will be assigned to the recovery effort.
Full customer restoration will take a number of days and we are prioritising key sites requested by emergency services, critical infrastructure in areas where hospitals and other emergency services are located, high voltage bulk transmission lines that supply power to thousands of customers, and localised faults that affect clusters of homes and businesses.
At this stage we can’t deploy network generators until we have responded to all hazards and made safe.
The damage we are seeing is widespread and generators will only help very small pockets. We’re assessing where and when they can be used to ensure maximum community benefit.
We’d urge the community to treat all damaged infrastructure as live – just because your home or area is without power does not mean that all infrastructure in the area is non-operational.
On the ground, the safety of our crews and the community are of the highest importance. That’s why customers may see crews attending a location where damage has occurred and then departing before power is restored. Our initial goal is to make damaged infrastructure safe prior to repair and restoration and we are working to complete these jobs as soon as safe to do so.
If you see a fallen power line, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe. Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
We understand the frustration and inconvenience the current power outages are causing and want to provide you with an update on works completed today.
Crews have made good progress at restoration despite significant damage to our infrastructure and the surrounding area. At the peak of the storm incident, about 34,000 customers were without power. We have since restored about 18,000 of these customers and will work methodically and safely to restore more customers as the evening progresses and over coming days. About 16,000 customers are currently without power.
Western Power crews worked through the night and have continued work today to respond to hundreds of hazards (more than 300 of which were initially reported after the storm) and we have over 80 remaining that we are responding to make safe before repairs and restoration can commence.
We know that there are still some customers who are without power following other severe weather (bushfire, storms and heatwave) conditions which occurred prior to the storm, rest assured we know your outages have been extended and frustrating and we are working hard to restore you as soon as we can.
Full customer restoration will take a number of days and we are prioritising critical infrastructure in areas where hospitals and other emergency services are located, high voltage bulk transmission lines that supply power to thousands of customers, and localised faults that affect clusters of homes and businesses.
At this stage we can’t deploy network generators until we have responded to all hazards and made safe.
The damage we are seeing is widespread and generators will only help very small pockets. We’re assessing where and when they can be used to ensure maximum community benefit.
We’d urge the community to treat all damaged infrastructure as live – just because your home or area is without power does not mean that all infrastructure in the area is non-operational.
We would like to remind everyone, that if you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe.
The Bureau of Meteorology are also forecasting another severe thunderstorm with potential for damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall this evening in the Gascoyne, Central Wheat Belt and Central West districts and we are on standby to respond if required. If outages occur our network operations team will attempt to restore power remotely where possible, and crews will respond to any incidents as soon as it is safe to do so once the storm front passes.
We know some customers are currently impacted by mobile phone outages relating to lack of power. We understand that Telstra is deploying power technicians equipped with portable generators to strategic priority sites when and where it is safe to do so.
More than 23,000 calls have been received by our customer call centre in the last 48 hours, and we are communicating directly with impacted customers including via SMS.
On the ground, the safety of our crews and the community are of the highest importance. That’s why customers may see crews attending a location where damage has occurred and then departing before power is restored. Our initial goal is to make damaged infrastructure safe prior to repair and restoration and we are working to complete these jobs as soon as safe to do so.
Customers who have experienced an outage for longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected.
Stay up to date by visiting our outage page and emergency.wa.gov.au
The number of hazards and extent of the network damage from yesterday’s severe thunderstorm activity is impacting power restoration times for homes and businesses affected and we want to explain to you the current situation.
We understand the frustration and inconvenience the current power outage is causing but assure you that we are working as fast as we can within safety precautions. The safety of the community and our crews is paramount.
The dangerous storm conditions caused multiple faults across a large area of the network, with hundreds of hazards including numerous damaged poles and wires down from the Wheatbelt to the Perth Hills area. Around 22,000 homes and businesses power supply remains affected down from 34,000 at the peak.
Western Power crews worked through the night to respond to hundreds of hazards and we have 100 remaining that we are responding to make safe before repairs and restoration can commence. All available crews are being deployed and planned works have been cancelled where not critical. Crews from regional depots are and contractors have been called in to support.
Current restorations times are unknown as the extent of the damage is more severe that initially we thought. Until we thoroughly assess the damage and the repairs required we cannot provide accurate restoration times. As such some customers may experience extended outages.
Response and repair work is also dependent on high fire weather conditions as we as we cannot restore power until it is safe. To help progress line patrols and assess damage, helicopter patrols are starting this morning. Our network operations team is continuing to work to safely isolate storm-damaged lines and back-feed to restore power where possible.
We ask customers affected to please be patient. We're working as quickly as we can while ensuring safety for the community and crews.
The thunderstorm, severe heatwave and high-risk fire weather conditions experienced during the past 4 days has been challenging but please be assured we’re working hard to restore your power.
We would like to remind everyone, that if you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe. Stay up to date by visiting our outage page and emergency.wa.gov.au
Yesterday’s severe thunderstorm activity significantly impacted the network resulting in multiple power outages across a large part of the network from the Wheatbelt through to Perth Hills, including Gingin, Mundaring, Gidgegannup, Toodyay, Helena Valley, and Stoneville and surrounds.
Around 22,000 homes and businesses power supply remains affected down from 34,000 at the peak.
We understand the inconvenience outages have are continuing to communicate directly with customers affected via SMS.
Our crews worked through the night to respond to hundreds of hazards including numerous damaged poles and wires down.
The priority is to respond the hazards remaining, around 100, and make safe before repairs and restoration can commence. All available crews are being deployed.
As such, the current estimated restoration times for those experiencing an outage is 12pm today. Some customers may be restored earlier if it is safe to do so.
As we assess the extent of the damage and the repairs required, some customers may experience extended outages with delays in restoration times. This will also be impacted by high fire weather conditions, as we cannot restore power until it is safe.
To help progress line patrols and assess damage, helicopter patrols are starting this morning.
Our network operations team will work to safely isolate storm-damaged lines and back-feed to restore power where possible.
We please ask customers affected to be patient. We're working as quickly as we can while ensuring safety for the community and crews.
We would like to remind everyone, that if you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe. Stay up to date by visiting our outage page or emergency.wa.gov.au
Severe thunderstorm activity has significantly impacted parts of the network affecting power supply to around 33,000 homes and businesses. This has resulted in multiple power outages across a large part of the network from the Wheatbelt through to Perth Hills, including Gingin, Mundaring, Gidgegannup, Toodyay, Helena Valley, and Stoneville and surrounds.
We understand the inconvenience outages have on the community and are continuing to communicate directly with customers affected via SMS.
Initial reports indicate more than 100 hazards including numerous damaged poles and wires down, with the Perth Hills area experiencing severe wind gusts of 93km/h.
Our priority is responding to reported hazards on the network, to ensure the safety of the community and our crews. Repair work can only be undertaken by our emergency response crews once the storm has passed, and hazards have been attended to.
With the large number of hazards to be responded to and make safe across a wide area, together with high-fire risk weather conditions, we are expecting extended repair and restoration times. When it is safe to do so, our network operations team will work to isolate storm-damaged lines and back-feed to restore power where possible. More on how we prioritise power restoration.
We ask people to be patient until we ensure all hazards are safe and fire weather conditions ease, as we cannot safely restore power until then.
We would like to remind everyone, that if you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe. Stay up to date by visiting our outage page and emergency.wa.gov.au
Kalgoorlie and surrounds
Power has been restored to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area through a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator.
Work is progressing well on the rebuild of the five transmission towers on the 220kV transmission line to Kalgoorlie. Construction exploration work started last Sunday and steel poles have been delivered to site. The rebuild involves drilling into rock to install 12 steel poles to erect the towers along the 2.5km work site. Ten holes have been completed and there are 2 remaining. Following this crossarms will be fitted, conductor strung, moving and clipping conductors as required, installing spacers, and stringing additional earth wire before final checks and energisation of the line. We aim to have construction completed early next week.
We would also like to remind customers to treat all damaged infrastructure as live. If you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe.
Please note: No further updates will be issued. Our community engagement team will continue to liaise with key stakeholders in the Wheatbelt regarding the remaining customers without power; and in the Goldfields while the area is supported on stable power supply during islanding while the re-build of the damaged section of the 220kV line is being completed.
Western Power has been restored to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area through a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator.
Work is progressing well on the rebuild of the five transmission towers on the 220kV transmission line to Kalgoorlie. Construction exploration work started last Sunday and steel poles have been delivered to site. The rebuild involves drilling into rock to install 12 steel poles to erect the towers along the 2.5km work site. Ten holes have been completed and there are 2 remaining. Following this crossarms will be fitted, conductor strung, moving and clipping conductors as required, installing spacers, and stringing additional earth wire before final checks and energisation of the line. We aim to have construction completed early next week.
Power has been restored to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area through a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator.
An engineering team had been tasked with developing the rebuild of the five transmission towers on the 220kV transmission line near Kalgoorlie, and we’ve been preparing for this since the storm last Thursday with steel poles already on site, sourcing of specialist equipment underway and construction exploration work starting last Sunday. The rebuild involves drilling into rock to install 12 steel poles to erect the towers along the 2.5km work site. Following this crossarms will be fitted, conductor strung, moving and clipping conductors as required, installing spacers, and stringing additional earth wire before final checks and energisation of the line. We aim to have construction completed early next week.
Crews are working in challenging circumstances across a large area of damaged network assets to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, we ask the community to please treat them with respect.
Power has been restored to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area through a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator.
Work is continuing to assess options and finalise the solution for the rebuild of the 220kV transmission line. Poles were transported to site yesterday and work commenced to source specialist equipment needed. Initial construction exploration began yesterday and we expect rebuild work to take 7 or 8 days.
Crews are working in challenging circumstances across a large area of damaged network assets to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, we ask the community to please treat them with respect.
Power has been restored to the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area through a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator.
Work is continuing to assess options and finalise the solution for the rebuild of the 220kV transmission line. Poles were transported to site yesterday and work commenced to source specialist equipment needed. Initial construction exploration began yesterday and we expect rebuild work to take 7 or 8 days.
Crews are working in challenging circumstances across a large area of damaged network assets to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, we ask the community to please treat them with respect.
Power has been restored to all impacted customers across the Goldfields region.
The remaining 100, largely commercial, customers were restored late yesterday.
Kalgoorlie is currently being powered by a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator. Our teams will continue to assess other options for further restoration of the commercial sites near Black Flag and West Kalgoorlie.
A cross-functional team has worked collaboratively to assess options and finalise the solution for the rebuild of the 220kV transmission line. Poles are being transported to site today and work has commenced to source specialist equipment needed. Construction is due to begin on tomorrow and we expect this work to take 7 or 8 days.
Western Power’s engineering teams devised an innovative solution to successfully power supply to around 10,000 customers in the Goldfields via the undamaged section of the 220KV line using the 132KV network yesterday.
Most of Narembeen, Merredin, Lake Grace, all of Southern Cross, Coolgardie town and Koorda were also restored late yesterday.
Ten emergency response generators have been deployed to the Goldfields. We have been working with local stakeholders including the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder to establish the areas of greatest need in the community.
Kalgoorlie is currently being powered by a combination of Western Power network assets, Synergy’s back-up generator and a local privately owned generator. Our teams will continue to assess other options for further restoration of the commercial sites near Black Flag and West Kalgoorlie.
We made significant progress last night and were able to restore power to around 10,000 homes and businesses in the Goldfields area including the Kalgoorlie, Merredin and Kellerberrin townsites. We still have considerable work to do to restore the remaining customers.
We understand the frustration and inconvenience the current power outages are causing and appreciate the community's patience.
Full customer restoration is taking time due to the extensive damage and we are prioritising critical services infrastructure in collaboration with State Government agencies including health, water, and Police.
The 220KV transmission line that supplies Kalgoorlie sustained significant damage from the storm front and there are five transmission towers down with repairs to these expected to take some time.
Western Power engineering teams have successfully been able to supply customers in the meantime via the undamaged section of the 220KV line via the 132KV network.
Synergy has conducted repairs on the gas turbine generator in West Kalgoorlie, which now can be used to supply back-up generation.
To assist with power restoration efforts and help maintain supply, customers are asked to please limit your energy use if you have power, or once you are reconnected.
While restorations times are unknown we have all available crews on the ground who are making significant headway into repairing and replacing the multiple damaged poles and wire. Power is methodically being restored when safe to do.
Community and crews safety is paramount.
We urge the community to treat all damaged infrastructure as live – just because your home or area is without power does not mean that all infrastructure in the area is non-operational.
Crews are working in challenging circumstances across a large number of hazards to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, we ask the community to please treat them with respect.
Customers who have experienced an outage for longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected.
If you see a fallen power line, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe. Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
Currently about 17,000 customers remain without power in the Central Wheatbelt and Goldfields areas.
Western Power Acting Executive Asset Performance Archana Viswanathan said engineering teams were assessing all options for restoration including supplying the undamaged section of the 220KV line via the 132KV network to get the Kalgoorlie townsite reconnected as soon as possible.
Read the media statement
Transmission towers on the Western Power network severely damaged by destructive storm
We understand the frustration and inconvenience the current power outages are causing and assure the community we are working to repair and restore their power supply.
Full customer restoration will take a number of days and we are prioritising critical services infrastructure in collaboration with State Government agencies including health, water, and Police.
The severe storm that occurred yesterday impacted large portion of our network in the Central Wheatbelt and Goldfields and 17,000 customers remain without power in these areas. The cause of this outage is damage to the network from a lightning strike as a result of the storm.
The 220KV transmission line that supplies Kalgoorlie has sustained significant damage from the storm front that moved through the region yesterday evening. There are currently five towers down with repairs expected to take some time.
Western Power engineering teams are assessing other options for restoration including supplying the undamaged section of the 220KV line via the 132KV network. Synergy are also currently conducting repairs on the gas turbine generator in West Kalgoorlie in an effort to restore power to Kalgoorlie townsite.
Current restorations times are unknown. Until our crews are able to thoroughly assess the damage and the repairs required we cannot provide an accurate restoration time.
All planned work is cancelled, except underground-specific works and works that are critical for fault response resources. Spare resources will be assigned to the recovery effort.
Full customer restoration will take a number of days and we are prioritising key sites requested by emergency services, critical infrastructure in areas where hospitals and other emergency services are located, high voltage bulk transmission lines that supply power to thousands of customers, and localised faults that affect clusters of homes and businesses.
We urge the community to treat all damaged infrastructure as live – just because your home or area is without power does not mean that all infrastructure in the area is non-operational.
Crews are working in challenging circumstances across a large number of hazards to restore power as quickly and safely as possible, we ask the community to please treat them with respect.
Customers who have experienced an outage for longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected.
If you see a fallen power line, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe. Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
We understand the frustration and inconvenience the current power outages are causing and want to provide you with an update on the situation.
Crews have made good progress at restoration from Tuesday’s storm despite significant damage to our infrastructure and the surrounding area. At the peak of the storm incident, about 34,000 customers were without power. We have since restored about 18,000 of these customers and will work methodically and safely to restore more customers as the evening progresses and over coming days.
Overnight another severe storm front impacted a large portion of our network in the Central Wheatbelt, Goldfields, South Coastal and Great Southern and districts, with outages experienced due to damaging weather in Kalgoorlie, Merredin, Kellerberrin and surrounds and Walpole. There are an additional 13,000 customers without power in that area – down from around 23,000 yesterday evening.
A total of 31,500 customers are currently without power across the network. About 7000 customers in the Perth Hills are without power and we are working to restore these customers today. Crews have also mustered to complete bushfire recovery works in Chittering, Gingin and Bindoon.
We know that there are still some customers who are without power following earlier severe weather (bushfire, storms and heatwave) conditions, rest assured we know your outages have been extended and frustrating and we are working hard to restore you as soon as we can.
All planned work is cancelled, except underground-specific works and works that are critical for fault response resources. Spare resources will be assigned to the recovery effort.
Full customer restoration will take a number of days and we are prioritising key sites requested by emergency services, critical infrastructure in areas where hospitals and other emergency services are located, high voltage bulk transmission lines that supply power to thousands of customers, and localised faults that affect clusters of homes and businesses.
At this stage we can’t deploy network generators until we have responded to all hazards and made safe.
The damage we are seeing is widespread and generators will only help very small pockets. We’re assessing where and when they can be used to ensure maximum community benefit.
We’d urge the community to treat all damaged infrastructure as live – just because your home or area is without power does not mean that all infrastructure in the area is non-operational.
On the ground, the safety of our crews and the community are of the highest importance. That’s why customers may see crews attending a location where damage has occurred and then departing before power is restored. Our initial goal is to make damaged infrastructure safe prior to repair and restoration and we are working to complete these jobs as soon as safe to do so.
If you see a fallen power line, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe. Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
Western Power are working to restore power to around 15,000 homes and businesses in the Merredin, Kellerberrin, Kalgoorlie and surrounds areas, down from 23,000 at around 7pm.
The cause of the outage is damage to the network from a lightning strike as a result of the storm front that moved through the region yesterday evening.
Crews were able to temporarily restore power to around 10,000 customers in Kalgoorlie townsite last night through gas turbine power station located near West Kalgoorlie Terminal however some issues with the turbine meant customers in Kalgoorlie townsite lost power again at around 10pm. Synergy technicians are on their way to conduct repairs on the power station this morning.
A team of Western Power engineers and technicians are working on a plan to re-energise the 220kV and crews are on site in Merredin to address the damage from the lightning strike.
Current restorations times are unknown. Until our crews are able to thoroughly assess the damage and the repairs required we cannot provide an accurate restoration time.
If you see a fallen power line, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe. Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
Western Power are working to restore power to around 14,000 homes and businesses in the Merredin, Kellerberrin, Kalgoorlie and surrounds areas down from 23,000 at around 7pm this evening.
The cause of the outage is damage to the network from a lightning strike as a result of the recent storm front that moved through the region. Western Power Network Operations will continue to work to restore power through backfeeding where possible to the Merredin and Kellerberrin areas and through the generator in Kalgoorlie.
The location of the faults, and the specialist testing required to ensure they are repaired means power may not be restored until tomorrow for some customers. Those customers will be notified via SMS.
If you see a fallen power line, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe. Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
Perth Hills and surrounds
- Construction crews and teams continuing work on re-connections in the area.
- 1300m of LV Aerial Bundle Cable has been run in the Perth Hills.
- Crews continuing repair work in Mt Helena, Gidgegannup, Stoneville and Mundaring areas.
- Construction crews and teams continuing work on re-connections in the area.
- 1300m of LV Aerial Bundle Cable has been run in the Perth Hills.
- Crews continuing repair work in Mt Helena, Gidgegannup, Stoneville and Mundaring areas.
- All the main HV lines were restored late yesterday, today work will concentrate on connecting power supply to customers
- There will be 13 construction crews and six teams working on re-connections in the area.
Wheatbelt
Approximately 1,369 customers in the Wheatbelt region remain without power, down from 2,000 late yesterday.
Customers in Dandaragan, Dowerin, and Wyalkatchem townsites have been restored. Crews are continuing work to restore customers in areas surrounding Lake Grace and Merredin.
Crews have also completed bushfire recovery works in Chittering, Gingin and Bindoon. Crews from Picton, Vasse and Bridgetown continue to work at the Gingin bushfire repair site.
We’ve responded to hundreds of hazards and made safe with around 20 remaining in the Wheatbelt Region. There are approximately 200 incidents to respond to, to complete repairs and restoration.
Perth Hills
773 remain without power due to widespread damage to the network from Tuesday’s severe thunderstorm as well as a number of damaging bushfires.
Estimated restoration times are gradually being updated on our outage page and SMS and email updates are being sent to affected customers.
Once repair works are complete, due to current fire weather conditions across the region, we have to complete a bushfire risk assessment, when possible, to ensure community and crew safety before we restore power.
Crews made good progress toward restoration in the Perth Hills yesterday with a further 1,032 customers restored including in Stoneville, Mount Helena, and Mundaring. Crews are currently focusing on repairs and restoration in parts of Mundaring, Gidgegannup, and surrounds.
Wheatbelt
About 1500 customers remain without power in the Wheatbelt due to storms and bushfires.
Crews have completed bushfire recovery works in Chittering, Gingin and Bindoon. Crews from Picton, Vasse and Bridgetown continue to work at the Gingin bushfire repair site. In Gingin our teams changed 14 poles and restored supply to seven customers yesterday.
Crews today will focus on restoring customers in Dowerin, Lake Grace, Merredin, Dandaragan and Wyalkatchem.
Perth Hills
Overnight an additional 180 Stoneville customers and 130 Mundaring customers were re-energised, with 200 Parkerville and 200 Glen Forrest customers restored yesterday afternoon. Crews were also able to restore the majority of customers in Sawyer’s Valley, and are working to restore the rest of the Hills customers.
About 1800 customers remain without power in the Hills.
Crews today will focus on restoring customers in Gidgegannup as well as other areas in the Perth Hills region.
Around 3,500 customers in the Perth Hills and Wheatbelt remain without power due to widespread damage to the network as a result of Tuesday’s severe thunderstorm. The most impacted areas that still remain without power include Gidgegannup, Stoneville Mount Helena, Glen Forrest and Mundaring.
Crews have been able to restore power to around 2,000 customers since our update at 11:30pm today including 100 restored in Stoneville, 30 in Mt Helena, 300 in Mundaring and 200 in Glen Forrest.
A total of 29,000 customers have had their power restored since the peak of the incident on Tuesday afternoon.
Crews will continue to work methodically and safely to restore more customers over the coming days.
While some restorations times are unknown, rest assured we have all available crews on the ground making significant headway into repairing and replacing the multiple damaged poles and wires when safe to do. We are prioritising critical services’ infrastructure in collaboration with State Government agencies including health, water, and Police.
All planned work is cancelled, except underground-specific works and works that are critical for fault response resources. Spare resources will be assigned to the recovery effort.
We urge the community to treat all damaged infrastructure as live – just because your home or area is without power does not mean that all infrastructure in the area is non-operational.
We would like to remind everyone, that if you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe.
On the ground, the safety of our crews and the community are of the highest importance. That’s why customers may see crews attending a location where damage has occurred and then departing before power is restored. Our initial goal is to make damaged infrastructure safe prior to repair and restoration and we are working to complete these jobs as soon as safe to do so.
Customers who have experienced an outage for longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected.
We understand the frustration and inconvenience the current extended power outages in the Perth Hills and Wheatbelt areas are causing customers. We would like to reassure the community we are working to repair significant damage to the network and restore power supply as quickly and safely as possible.
Around 5,500 customers in the Perth Hills and Wheatbelt remain without power due to widespread damage to the network as a result of Tuesday’s severe thunderstorm. The most impacted areas that still remain without power include Gidgegannup, Stoneville Mount Helena, Glen Forrest and Mundaring.
Crews have been able to restore power to around 10,500 customers since our update at 10am yesterday morning including 100 restored overnight in Gidgegannup, 100 in Glen Forrest and 600 Mundaring.
A total of 28,500 customers have had their power restored since the peak of the incident on Tuesday afternoon.
Crews will continue to work methodically and safely to restore more customers over the coming days.
All planned work is cancelled, except underground-specific works and works that are critical for fault response resources. Spare resources will be assigned to the recovery effort.
Full customer restoration will take a number of days and we are prioritising critical services’ infrastructure in collaboration with State Government agencies including health, water, and Police.
Current restorations times are still being determined but crews are working to restore power to more customers today in Sawyers Valley, Glen Forrest, Mount Helena, Mundaring and Brookton and Gidgegannup among others.
We urge the community to treat all damaged infrastructure as live – just because your home or area is without power does not mean that all infrastructure in the area is non-operational.
We would like to remind everyone, that if you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe.
On the ground, the safety of our crews and the community are of the highest importance. That’s why customers may see crews attending a location where damage has occurred and then departing before power is restored. Our initial goal is to make damaged infrastructure safe prior to repair and restoration and we are working to complete these jobs as soon as safe to do so.
Customers who have experienced an outage for longer than 12 consecutive hours can apply for an extended outage payment via Extended Outages Payment once power is reconnected.
Stay up to date by visiting our outage page and more information can be found on emergency.wa.gov.au and ABC Radio.
We understand the frustration and inconvenience the current power outages are causing and want to provide you with an update on the situation.
Crews have made good progress at restoration from Tuesday’s storm despite significant damage to our infrastructure and the surrounding area. At the peak of the storm incident, about 34,000 customers were without power. We have since restored about 18,000 of these customers and will work methodically and safely to restore more customers as the evening progresses and over coming days.
Overnight another severe storm front impacted a large portion of our network in the Central Wheatbelt, Goldfields, South Coastal and Great Southern and districts, with outages experienced due to damaging weather in Kalgoorlie, Merredin, Kellerberrin and surrounds and Walpole. There are an additional 13,000 customers without power in that area – down from around 23,000 yesterday evening.
A total of 31,500 customers are currently without power across the network. About 7000 customers in the Perth Hills are without power and we are working to restore these customers today. Crews have also mustered to complete bushfire recovery works in Chittering, Gingin and Bindoon.
We know that there are still some customers who are without power following earlier severe weather (bushfire, storms and heatwave) conditions, rest assured we know your outages have been extended and frustrating and we are working hard to restore you as soon as we can.
All planned work is cancelled, except underground-specific works and works that are critical for fault response resources. Spare resources will be assigned to the recovery effort.
Full customer restoration will take a number of days and we are prioritising key sites requested by emergency services, critical infrastructure in areas where hospitals and other emergency services are located, high voltage bulk transmission lines that supply power to thousands of customers, and localised faults that affect clusters of homes and businesses.
At this stage we can’t deploy network generators until we have responded to all hazards and made safe.
The damage we are seeing is widespread and generators will only help very small pockets. We’re assessing where and when they can be used to ensure maximum community benefit.
We’d urge the community to treat all damaged infrastructure as live – just because your home or area is without power does not mean that all infrastructure in the area is non-operational.
On the ground, the safety of our crews and the community are of the highest importance. That’s why customers may see crews attending a location where damage has occurred and then departing before power is restored. Our initial goal is to make damaged infrastructure safe prior to repair and restoration and we are working to complete these jobs as soon as safe to do so.
If you see a fallen power line, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe. Stay up to date by visiting our outage page.
Yesterday’s severe thunderstorm activity significantly impacted the network resulting in multiple power outages across a large part of the network from the Wheatbelt through to Perth Hills, including Gingin, Mundaring, Gidgegannup, Toodyay, Helena Valley, and Stoneville and surrounds.
Around 22,000 homes and businesses power supply remains affected down from 34,000 at the peak.
We understand the inconvenience outages have are continuing to communicate directly with customers affected via SMS.
Our crews worked through the night to respond to hundreds of hazards including numerous damaged poles and wires down.
The priority is to respond the hazards remaining, around 100, and make safe before repairs and restoration can commence. All available crews are being deployed.
As such, the current estimated restoration times for those experiencing an outage is 12pm today. Some customers may be restored earlier if it is safe to do so.
As we assess the extent of the damage and the repairs required, some customers may experience extended outages with delays in restoration times. This will also be impacted by high fire weather conditions, as we cannot restore power until it is safe.
To help progress line patrols and assess damage, helicopter patrols are starting this morning.
Our network operations team will work to safely isolate storm-damaged lines and back-feed to restore power where possible.
We please ask customers affected to be patient. We're working as quickly as we can while ensuring safety for the community and crews.
We would like to remind everyone, that if you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe. Stay up to date by visiting our outage page or emergency.wa.gov.au
Severe thunderstorm activity has significantly impacted parts of the network affecting power supply to around 33,000 homes and businesses. This has resulted in multiple power outages across a large part of the network from the Wheatbelt through to Perth Hills, including Gingin, Mundaring, Gidgegannup, Toodyay, Helena Valley, and Stoneville and surrounds.
We understand the inconvenience outages have on the community and are continuing to communicate directly with customers affected via SMS.
Initial reports indicate more than 100 hazards including numerous damaged poles and wires down, with the Perth Hills area experiencing severe wind gusts of 93km/h.
Our priority is responding to reported hazards on the network, to ensure the safety of the community and our crews. Repair work can only be undertaken by our emergency response crews once the storm has passed, and hazards have been attended to.
With the large number of hazards to be responded to and make safe across a wide area, together with high-fire risk weather conditions, we are expecting extended repair and restoration times. When it is safe to do so, our network operations team will work to isolate storm-damaged lines and back-feed to restore power where possible. More on how we prioritise power restoration.
We ask people to be patient until we ensure all hazards are safe and fire weather conditions ease, as we cannot safely restore power until then.
We would like to remind everyone, that if you see any damage to the network, please stay eight metres away and Make The Safe Call to Western Power on the emergency 24/7 number 13 13 51 so that emergency response crews can attend the hazard to make the area safe. Stay up to date by visiting our outage page and emergency.wa.gov.au
Bushfire related outages
In the Bindoon/Gingin region we have identified 32 poles and four transformers which need replacement due to bushfire damage.
In the Wongan Hills region, we were able to restore the townsite today by switching, but there are a further 42 bushfire impacted poles, and 18 which have been impacted by the storm activity.
In Chittering, five damaged poles have been identified for replacement.
63 customers are without power in Ginginup, Moondah, Mooliabeenee, Lennard Brook and Gingin due to the bushfire.
Those within the bushfire zone who remain without power will not be able to be restored until crews are able to access the fire ground under the direction of DFES. At least 38 poles are believed to be damaged. Network operations centre will backfeed where possible to restore power and crews are on site completing repair works where safe to do so.
Some of these crews have been redirected to attend to the safety hazards as a result of yesterday’s storms.
Initially 920 homes and businesses power supply in Mooliabeenee, Coonabidgee, Cullalla, Gingin, Granville, Moondah, Beermullah, Lennard Brook, Muckenburra, Ginginup, Bambun and Yeal was impacted. The majority of these customers have had their power restored through backfeeding.
We will work as quickly and safely as possible to restore the remaining customers impacted, but unfortunately, due to the current damage across the network, the repairs and restoration will be extended.
For the most up-to-date information, visit our outage page.
Restoring power FAQs
The duration of a power outage is affected by various factors including:
- the nature of the fault, for example, it takes significantly longer to replace a pole than does to replace a fuse.
- the number of other jobs being attended to, for example, during a storm.
- the location of the fault and how close it is to your property. We may be able to isolate the fault and supply you with power from somewhere else.
- high priority incidents, for example, hazards will always be given a high priority.
- the ability to use backup power while we repair the fault.the time required to get extra resources to a site when needed.
- the weather, sometimes we need to stop work due to extreme environmental and weather conditions.
Estimated restoration times relating to postcodes are only ever estimates.
This is because in a ‘postcode area’ there are numerous powerlines that are not necessarily interconnected, which means that restoring power to a line may return power to some customers in one street, but not others.
Additionally, conditions on the ground can change which may impact how safely and quickly our crews can repair the network and restore power.
We recognise it is frustrating to read the message “Restoration time: unknown”. An unknown restoration time message can arise when there is extensive damage to the network, generally caused by a major incident such as a storm, and our crews are attending to many faults.
In such cases, our crews must firstly make each site safe before work can commence.
When there are many faults in a suburb, repair work on one fault may return power to some customers, but not others. Therefore it is not possible to give an estimated restoration time for a suburb that is meaningful for all affected customers within that suburb.
Ground and/or helicopter patrols are required to visually inspect lines before power is restored, to ensure it is safe to do so. In times of strong winds, aerial restrictions sometimes apply limiting our use of helicopter patrols.
When the network is damaged, our first action is to make the site safe for our crews and for the community and then to assess the damage.
Our crews prioritise work focusing first on rebuilding the major lines that connect the most customers to the network.
After the major lines that form the backbone of the network have been repaired, crews work on the smaller lines and then on individual customer lines.
Major storms or lightning strikes often damage several sets of powerlines over a widespread area.
Ground and/or helicopter patrols must visually inspect lines before power is restored, to ensure it is safe to do so. In times of strong winds, aerial restrictions sometimes apply limiting our use of helicopter patrols.
As a result of these factors, restoring power to some regional areas can take longer.
Our role is to provide safe and reliable electricity to our customers. During the bushfire season, we make changes to the way we operate in high and extreme fire risk areas.
Our systems that remotely and automatically restore power are altered during the hotter months to reduce the chance of a spark causing a fire. Occasionally, the process of automatically restoring power can add to the risks of fire. In high and extreme fire areas it is safer to physically check lines before power is restored after an interruption to make sure there are no branches or foreign objects touching the powerlines.
Ground and/or helicopter patrols must visually inspect lines before power is restored, to ensure it is safe to do so. Aerial restrictions sometimes apply limiting our use of helicopter patrols.
Alternatively, we may remotely restore the power when the risk of fire is lower, for example during the night.
As a result of these factors, there may be a delay in restoring power.
If you happen to experience a power interruption in the hotter months, we ask for your patience.
To help us maintain safe and reliable power, we encourage you to report any fault to 13 13 51.
If your electricity supply is interrupted, we work as safely and quickly as possible to restore power. Our emergency response teams work 24 hours a day seven days a week to fix faults on the network.
When restoring power, our guidelines determine the order of repairs so the greatest number of customer connections can be repaired as soon as possible.
When the network is damaged, our first action is to make the site safe for our crews and for the community, and then to assess the damage. Once we complete the repairs, we restore power using the following priority list:
- Essential services - essential services such as hospitals and other emergency services
- High voltage lines - high voltage bulk transmission lines that supply power to thousands of customers
- Localised faults - localised faults that affect clusters of homes and businesses
- Individual entities - individual homes and businesses
If you see damaged powerlines or hazards on the electricity network, stay clear and make the safe call to our 24/7 emergency line on 13 13 51.