A catastrophic power outage has left half a million Victorians in the dark last week.

The outage, one of the largest in the state's history, was triggered by a freak storm that caused transmission lines to collapse.

A week after the violent weather, more than 3,000 customers are still without power, with authorities promising restoration by Friday, February 23, at the latest.

This has led the Victorian Government to announce an independent inquiry into the matter.

The Victorian Government has announced an inquiry into the recent catastrophic power outages. Image source: evening_tao on Freepik.

The decision to launch an inquiry comes after mounting pressure on the government to investigate how the power networks managed the storm damage.

The wild weather left families homeless and tens of thousands of businesses and homes without power, severely impacting the state's hardest-hit areas, including Melbourne's Yarra Ranges, South Gippsland, and the Bass Coast.

Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio has stated that the review will be conducted by experts to determine exactly what went wrong.

'We want to get to the bottom of exactly what has occurred,' D'Ambrosio said.

'The review will complement the work done following the 2021 storms to make sure our energy network can handle extreme weather events.'

The review will also reportedly focus on the preparedness of energy distribution companies who responded to the extreme weather and look at the restoration of supply.

It is also set to look over any material opportunities that could have enabled a more rapid reconnection of customers.

At this stage, the composition and cost of the expert panel are unknown.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto has criticised the government for allegedly being forced into the inquiry.

'Last night, (Premier) Jacinta Allan and her government were dismissing our call for an inquiry as a stunt,' Pesutto said.

'This morning they've backflipped.'

In other news, the recent power outages in Victoria have also led to a heartbreaking scene in supermarkets across the state.

The power outages have resulted in thousands of dollars worth of fresh produce being deemed 'unsafe' for sale and dumped in industrial bins outside supermarkets.

This incident has sparked a heated debate about food wastage and the need for better contingency plans.

You can read more about this here.

Key Takeaways

• The Victorian Government has announced an inquiry into the severe power outages caused by freak storms across the state.
• More than 3,000 customers are still reportedly without electricity a week after the storms, with power expected to be fully restored by the latest Friday.
• Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio announced that the review will be conducted by experts to understand the failures and improve resilience.
• The Opposition criticised the government's response and accused them of backflipping on the need for an inquiry after initially dismissing the idea.

What are your thoughts on this issue, members? Have you been affected by the recent power outages? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

 

[Cheviegirl]

When you see the huge amount of electricity pylons that came down in the storm, I feel they were doing the best they could. I feel also the people who were told they would receive $1900 if it was off for a week but had their power restored just only hours before that deadline should still receive compensation. Fair is fair.

 

[JedCorella]

Better get used to it as we are forced into using renewables. I'm not against it but we are not ready by a long shot. Solar is not the way forward for base load power and wind power cost way too much and in not economically viable. The towers are a blight on the landscape and are killing birds by the thousands. The whole thing is a scam just making the rich richer.

 

[Mina vriesekolk]

Often Australian politics say we are way ahead of the “modern” countries , but if it comes to power we are far behind of the “western “ countries .As I grew up in Europe ,I can remember they put the powerlines underground more than 50 yrs ago . They left a few lines for the birds to sit on , but not interfering with the trees . I can remember we had very few power outage and many houses changed to electric cooking .In my 2 yr old house I am cooking on gas for the only reason of already had power loss more than 4 times and not just 5 min., one was more than 2 days in hot , humid conditions .
A cousin of me asked why I was cooking on gas and I told her it was the frequent power loss.
If we want to be up with the western countries , the powerlines should have been underground many years ago . What they say now “it costs too much”! But on the other hand we have to be top notch for the world when the Olympic Games will be held in Brisbane . Nothing to spare , all luxury apartments and restaurants being build , but they forget the basics .

 

[Jest]

if they are so stupid, too bad. get coal back.

 

[Colette 3799]

Often Australian politics say we are way ahead of the “modern” countries , but if it comes to power we are far behind of the “western “ countries .As I grew up in Europe ,I can remember they put the powerlines underground more than 50 yrs ago . They left a few lines for the birds to sit on , but not interfering with the trees . I can remember we had very few power outage and many houses changed to electric cooking .In my 2 yr old house I am cooking on gas for the only reason of already had power loss more than 4 times and not just 5 min., one was more than 2 days in hot , humid conditions .
A cousin of me asked why I was cooking on gas and I told her it was the frequent power loss.
If we want to be up with the western countries , the powerlines should have been underground many years ago . What they say now “it costs too much”! But on the other hand we have to be top notch for the world when the Olympic Games will be held in Brisbane . Nothing to spare , all luxury apartments and restaurants being build , but they forget the basics .

Our powerlines are under ground but with the storm last week being so fierce our power was out for 16 hours - we were the lucky ones. There were problems with the sub station being damaged by fallen trees, they were down everywhere. I’m sure the government can’t be held responsible for Mother Nature, unless you blame climate change, but that’s a whole new conversation

 

[Shane O'Neill]

Well well John (cold meat) Pesutto can't take a trick why it happened a storm reason mother nature this idiot has no idea to topple those transmittion tower's don't just fall over and just about every road town ,city has tree's close to power lines so while spread damage can be fixed with a click off your fingers I think John needs a lesson on disaster recovery imbecile

 

[tpw1961]

Why do we need an enquiry? More money spent for a report that will state the obvious? I seems pretty bloody obvious to me that the push towards going all electric is a joke since we can't cope with the load that is already here. Yes it will cost, but surely, it has got to more cost effective for all new deveolpments to have underground wiring, and as areas are upgraded, slowly put the rest underground. This would stop fires from downed wires, remove poles which are a hazard at the best of times, while aalso protecting the lines from weather related issues. In the meantime, we need to continue using all the facilities we currently have simply to keep going.

 

[Mina vriesekolk]

Why do we need an enquiry? More money spent for a report that will state the obvious? I seems pretty bloody obvious to me that the push towards going all electric is a joke since we can't cope with the load that is already here. Yes it will cost, but surely, it has got to more cost effective for all new deveolpments to have underground wiring, and as areas are upgraded, slowly put the rest underground. This would stop fires from downed wires, remove poles which are a hazard at the best of times, while aalso protecting the lines from weather related issues. In the meantime, we need to continue using all the facilities we currently have simply to keep going.

Yes , you are absolutely right .
I live in a new acreage area , which has powerlines underground, but a development behind us has above ground powerlines ,on the edge of a large NP. We had two massive storms in Dec.23 with hail, lightning , thunder ,damaging winds and large amount of rainfall with flooding and many trees down , even on the highway not far away were fallen trees and it was closed off.. There was no warning on the BOM , so we were all very worried and lost power for over 48 hrs , no internet , no phone reception , completely cut off from the world . Unfortunately it was our 50 th wedding anniversary during that power loss , had booked in to a nice restaurant in the mountains , so that all did not happened . In stead we were mopping and cleaning up the damage .

 

[Mina vriesekolk]

Our powerlines are under ground but with the storm last week being so fierce our power was out for 16 hours - we were the lucky ones. There were problems with the sub station being damaged by fallen trees, they were down everywhere. I’m sure the government can’t be held responsible for Mother Nature, unless you blame climate change, but that’s a whole new conversation

There are only certain areas underground powerlines , as you said the trees brought down the powerlines , that means there are still areas NOT underground .
This has nothing to do with Mother Nature . For the time being it is cheaper to leave the powerlines above ground , but in the long run it is a lot better underground and no maintenance to the poles like white ants etc. We have to start with the basics .