Started around 3:30PM and ongoing in areas. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iYPg2NJP7fU&noapp=1
My question is should people seek compensation for their spoilt refrigerated items, or what do? 🧐🧐
Victoria Power Outage & Storm 13/02/2024
capslock janitor on 13/02/2024 - 22:59
Last edited 14/02/2024 - 00:06
Last edited 14/02/2024 - 00:06
Comments
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Sure, if you pay the $1000 excess and cop the premium increase for the following years because you made a claim…
There are some comments online saying that you might be able to claim up to a certain amount without needing paying any access. OP should still look into it.
I've had 2 times that we've had this issue and claimed, no effect on your rating and no excess. If your insurance doesn't cover it, speak to ausgrid, they will reimburse you as well.
Ausnet in Victoria specifically excludes claims for spoiled food unless the fridge/freezer was damaged due to the outage.
AAMI home contents insurance has a limit of $400 for spoiled food, and the claim does not have an excess.
Number 2 and 3 in FAQs:
What claims are not eligible for compensation?
We are unable to compensate customers for any loss or damage caused by third parties or as a result of events outside our control, such as:
- Severe weather
- …
I’ve lost power and my food has spoiled. Can I make a claim?
If you are a residential customer and have experienced an unplanned power outage for:
- 12 hours or more metropolitan areas, or
- 18 hours non-metropolitan areas
you may be eligible for a customer service payment from Ausgrid for food spoilage. These customer service payments are voluntary and are subject to specific value limits which are defined by us. You will need to provide evidence when making your claim. Please refer to the FAQ: “What evidence will I need to provide?”
Note that you cannot claim for food spoilage due to a planned outage.
If you have lost a substantial amount of food (e.g., for an event), please consider contacting your insurer.
What about the ones that aren't allowed to install gas connections and can't cook any food?
Uber Eats has been doing pretty well around here tonight, although there's always the option of a sandwich.
Too bad if can't call them because your phone won't work without electricity.
Also, local take away shops and supermarkets are closed.
Pretty sure mobile phones are working just fine, which would be over 90% of all Australians, the rest living in either nursing homes or with their parents who own mobile phones. Also, the local Maccas is 24 hours, but sure, you be you.
Pretty sure mobile phones are working just fine
Not if you can't charge them.
My elderly parents only have a VOIP phone which no longer works without power and without internet.
@jv: Dude, how many people do you think live in Victoria? Here's a hint: 6.5 million, of which only 500k were without power at peak today. There's always another Maccas.
Also, lucky your elderly parents have you to drop by to fix them up a late night snack, eh? :-)
of which only 500k were without power
Yep, half a million people without power…
lucky your elderly parents have you to drop by to fix them
I live too far away to do that and they have no way of contacting me in an emergency…
@jv: My mother-in-law has one of these, works with a standard 4G mobile SIM card. I can recommend, for next time. Much cheaper than NBN, which they could completely disconnect from.
https://www.catch.com.au/product/olitech-easytel-4g-seniors-…
Much cheaper than NBN
They need NBN to stream feeds of KODI tv stations from their homeland.
It's on about 12-16 hours a day. I doubt the mobile SIM card will allow that much data.When the government decided to scrap landlines, they clearly didn't give a tish about the elderly.
standard 4G mobile SIM card.
By the way, I did visit them earlier to drop off some food and there was NO Telstra coverage available.
I usually get about 3 bars there…Either the towers were affected by the outage or they are congested due to the high demand.
@jv: Let me make sure this is right.
Your basic position is that your constantly streaming cable broadband connected parents, despite the government having scrapped all the landlines, who you both live too far away from to feed in an emergency but nonetheless had time to drop a snack around to earlier this evening, can't use a mobile phone, and in any case three bars basically means they have no coverage anyhow, and can't install a battery backup for their VoIP service despite this being something that NBN services explicitly offer to install for you for a small additional fee, will starve if they go for more than a few hours without a refrigerator despite that not really being a thing for decades of their life, as well as presumably your parents having some kind if ethical objection to bread and jam, and additionally they are in imminent danger of their son posting grumpy messages to OzBargain?
I feel that these may be solvable issues, if we only had an opportunity to apply the full weight of OzBargain collective wisdom to these problems.
@AngoraFish: That's right, lots of elderly people living on their own are in that position.
Many do not use mobile phones and rely on VOIP which doesn't work when there is no power…Landlines worked just fine when there was an outage.
@jv: Land lines had battery backup in exchanges, which supplied power up the phone line to your phone. But they only kept working for whatever number of hours it took until the batteries ran out of power.
Mobile phone system towers need power to receive and transmit. But they don't have much or any battery backup. So if the power goes of in an area your mobile phone still works until its battery goes flat, but the tower goes down immediately or quickly. There was a scheme to provide backup power for phone towers in disaster-likely areas.
@jv: NBN VoIP also works fine, for at least 5 hours, with a cheap modification https://www.nbnco.com.au/learn/network-technology/fibre-to-t….
I've also already linked you a phone option that looks like a regular household phone but works through the mobile network.
What your parents crappy old copper line didn't do very well, however, is stream KODI tv for 12-16 hours a day.
@jv: Just bollicks. There are plenty of older people with mobile phones. We know people in their 80s with mobiles. How old are your parents?
@jv: jv, all you've done here is complain. One minute you live too far away from your parents to deliver food and two posts later you've been to visit them to drop off food. Apparently they can't learn to use a mobile phone but they can use a streaming service that 99% of the population have never heard of to watch TV from another country. Pretty much everything you've said is later countered by something else you've said. People here are trying be helpful.
Everyone saw what happened over the last few years during the floods, the bushfires, the storms in QLD at Christmas and New Years. No-one is coming to save anyone else. If your parents don't want solar and a battery that's on them. If they choose to rely on the grid in a world where the grid which is no longer be reliable, that's on them. If you're not going to be self sufficient then you have to expect to be inconvenienced. When there are thousands or hundreds of thousands or even millions of people offline, you're on your own.
Buy a generator and keep fuel in a container or don't. Have a BBQ with an LPG bottle ready to cook or don't. Get solar and a battery or don't. Keep enough dry food in the pantry to survive a few days or don't. The people who can't adapt are the ones that will be gone first. Collapse is already happening, the signs are in front of everyone. Whether you have the intelligence to make sense of it or not is entirely up to the individual. You can choose to get ready or you can choose to do nothing but complain. If you think the politicians are coming to save you then you're delusional.
all you've done here is complain.
just pointing out facts and you are the one complaining about that…
@jv: Good to know that your only complaint about what I said is the fact that what I said is correct. Have a great day.
One minute you live too far away from your parents to deliver food
Nope, I usually make the trip about once a week…
Cannot manage it daily or more or more frequently… Anyway, there's not way for them to contact me when the power is out. They can't even call 000 if there is an emergency.
It seems like one of these would be a sound investment.
No, they are too old to learn to use a mobile phone.
They're using the same phone they used decades ago, but now it is connected to a VOIP box.It has speed dial buttons (with pictures) for all the numbers they need. There's no way they could use a modern mobile phone.
@us3rnam3tak3n: Many elderly people cannot learn new technology.
They are fine with what they are used to, and already know, but anything new, forget it….
anything new, forget it
Fair enough. It does sound like they're at risk when emergency strikes though. Must be worrisome.
It does sound like they're at risk when emergency strikes though.
Yep, that's why the government needs to reduce the risk an ensure our power supplies in this state are reliable.
the government needs to reduce the risk an ensure our power supplies in this state are reliable
Agree, but will be expensive and take many years to implement. Would need a bipartisan approach so that every change of government doesn't put us back to square one.
Agree, but will be expensive and take many years to implement.
Well, they could start by not shutting down the gas and coal electricity generators earlier than they need too.
they could start by not shutting down the gas and coal electricity generators
Not relevant in this case though. Storms will be stormin'
@jv: What happened to Loy Yang during this outage? It shut down.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-13/power-outage-victoria…
I never lost any power thanks to my solar setup.
@jv: Unless the government (who don't own power stations afaik) had the generator on the same street as your parents, they would still have been affected by whatever struck the powerlines, transmission lines, or other infrastructure…
This seems very much a case of "woe is me" rather than implement fairly mitigation measures, most of which are simple and have already been suggested, including:
* A mobile phone
* A UPS
* Some kind of off grid supply
* A separate emergency alert system
* A nearby friend or neighbour who could check on them from time to timeUnless the government (who don't own power stations afaik)
The government has a contract with the distribution companies.
They are the ones the set up the 'rules'.
Buy a generator and keep fuel in a container or don't. Have a BBQ with an LPG bottle ready to cook or don't. Get solar and a battery or don't.
These are elderly people, they can't do all that.
Then put them in assisted living.
They choose not to… Nothing I can do about it.
@AngoraFish: Hi, just FYI Telstra network was down in my area. Optus and vodafone worked for calls but data was not usable.
Modem had sync but wouldn't connect.
So sometimes when it rains, it pours.
@A-mak: I think it was wide spread. Had nothing in Warragul, Yarragon, Trafalgar and Moe this morning. But Vodafone was okay. But it is back online now.
Pretty sure mobile phones are working just fine
Telstra is reporting hundreds of mobile phone towers still not working. Unless you have fibre, NBN is also out, and because everyone is trying to use 4G internet, that doesn't work either.
As JV points out, people can't charge their devices without power. Maybe you can charge your phone in your car, but if you're low on petrol, you need to remember that petrol stations are closed because there's no power. And traffic lights are out anyway, so it's dangerous to drive.
Also, the local Maccas is 24 hours
The "local Macca's" has no power, so it's closed 24 hours…
But you just go on being you :-)
@pjetson: You get that less than 15% of Melbourne was blacked out at peak right? The other 85% of mobile phone towers, supermarkets, shopping centres, friends, relatives, and Macca's were operating more or less as normal?
Nobody in any built up area was ever further than a short drive away from anything. If you don't live in a built up area, on the other hand, you don't have a local much at all, and bigger problems.
You guys are carrying on as if Victoria was dealing with a zombie apocalypse or something.
You get that less than 15% of Melbourne was blacked out at peak right
Yes, and it's obvious you're in the lucky 85%.
Me, I'm sitting here in the dark. All the food in my fridge/freezer has spoiled. There's no hot water left for my shower in the morning. No milk for breakfast. No supermarkets or petrol stations anywhere near here were open until this morning.
I'm in the foothills of the Dandenongs, not in the middle of nowhere. I can look out the window into total darkness - everyone in this area and many of the surrounding suburbs is in the same boat. According to Ausnet, there are over 180 unresolved issues in just my suburb, and most have not even been investigated yet, let alone had crews allocated.
There's no NBN with no power, so everyone is trying to use the internet on their phones. And that means it doesn't work for anyone. I'll be surprised if this post gets through.
Anyway, i'm glad you're not affected. Thanks for caring.
@pjetson: That sucks you haven't got power yet. Power in my area was restored at 01:00 am the next morning. I just checked Ausnet and there are quite a number of outages out your way and beyond.
I had no internet access on my phone yesterday either which I'd never experienced before, I think the tower must've been overloaded because it said I had signal but nothing would load. If the tower was out completely I'd suspect it'd say SOS or something.
Hope you get power back soon. If you don't mind sharing your address I'm willing to send you a pizza!
If you don't mind sharing your address I'm willing to send you a pizza!
That made me smile, thanks Ghost47
@pjetson: Much like you should keep a battery powered radio in case of emergency, maybe you should keep a portable phone charger in case of emergency. There's been plenty listed on OzBargain, go take a look.
Tell them to install solar and batteries so they don't need to rely on a coal power station taking days to restart properly when it has a little weather to deal with.
Tell them to install solar and batteries
Too expensive and batteries not cost effective…
Actually if you have any sort of decent roof available then solar is not that expensive, particularly with the rebates. Your parents could be basking in guilt free air conditioning.
I do agree storage isn't quite there yet but it is getting close. We generate so much more power than we use and we are inner Fitzroy. Once storage is cracked then a lot of people will be drawing very little from the grid most of the time.
available then solar is not that expensive
Perhaps…
But battery storage is expensive…
Also, renters cannot install solar, and there are lots of renters.
Your parents could be basking in guilt free air conditioning.
They are on a pension, they can't afford to install solar.
@jv: https://www.solar.vic.gov.au/information-landlords#rebate-el…
Landlords can get rebates for installing solar panels.
Even without storage you get advantages from panels.
Landlords can get rebates for installing solar panels.
Doubt most would be interested if it costs them money and they can't raise the rent.
It's not going to happen in any significant numbers.@jv: You might be surprised. It is a good rental point for the house. Maybe the tenant can have a chat to the landlord about it. Agree to pay a premium on the rent in exchange for the solar panels being installed.
Some people are proactive rather than reactive.
It is a good rental point for the house.
Not in this market… Demand > Supply…
Don't need solar to find a tenant. So waste of money.
Actually not a waste of money if a tenant is willing to pay more.
You can charge more regardless of whether you install solar or not…
@jv: There is a limit of how much more you can charge. Being able to keep your energy bills down is a big drawcard, particularly if you can run air con in summer.
they go and blame former labour premier mr Dan Andrews
Well it was his decision… It's not as if he asked Victorians if that is what they wanted.
it was also their party's decision to impose a electric vehicle tax which ofcourse HCA ruled illegal and now they gotta fix their shtt.
I dont get why Victorians just dont want a change of government, (a single term not being in power could teach those currupt party high reach people some lessons).
I aint anti labour, they got some serious good sh!t done federally, but in state of Victoria IDK honestly they are not that good IMO.
I dont get why Victorians just dont want a change of government
60% voted for a change in government, but the 40% won, thanks to our 'democratic' voting system…
@jv: Ya mean our preferential voting system where you get what you can live with if your first option doesn’t get up? They didn’t vote for a change in government as the results show.
The two party preferred result was 55% ALP.
56 Seats ALP
27 Seats LNP
4 seats Greens.It isn’t like it was close.
The senate is where the ALP has to negotiate and the majority of the smaller parties trend left rather than right.
They didn’t vote for a change in government as the results show.
60% voted against Labor. Thus they wanted a change of government.
@jv: 65% voted against the LNP. They didn't want to change to them, clearly. And if people really wanted a change there was an easy solution, preference Labor last.
Even if it was run as a proportion of seats based on percentage of first preference votes, you'd have a coalition of Labor, Greens and Animal Justice running Victoria.
@jv: That is how preferential voting works. People preferenced the ALP over the other parties even if it wasn’t their first preference. The majority didn’t want a change of government.
That is how preferential voting works.
Yes, a minority of people have more power than the majority.
That is not how democracy is supposed to work…
@jv: The minority doesn't have more power than the majority. In fact preferential voting is probably the closest you get to meeting the will of the people. I want this guy but if I can't have him then this guy will do instead. Your vote isn't wasted if your first guy only gets a small percentage of the vote, your second choice counts as well. In fact it allows a protest vote without throwing away the sensible option as well.
Democracy is, mainly, about what people can live with. It is about compromise. Otherwise it would be chaos and polarisation.
That is not how democracy is supposed to work…
Blame Thomas Bent -
@USER DC: I think the better question is why Liberals put in Matthew Guy. Like seriously. Victorians would rather vote for a cardboard box than a dude with the charisma of a wet paper bag.
Yeah, jv you just wait until this moment to fling out your right wing propaganda and not even admitting your lib ancestors initiated those public asset sell-off
your right wing propaganda
🤣🤣🤣
Only if you are so far left that 'normal' seems that way to you…
@jv: Sorry mate, the current Federal ALP would be traditionally be seen as centre right. Which gives you an idea on how far right the LNP have gone.
@jv: So you don’t have a counter argument then. Not surprised. Do some Googling and you will see what the left used to look like.
So you don’t have a counter argument then.
It's pointless to argue a statement so ludicrous..
@jv: Actually arguing with you is pointless anyway. You just want to be contrary. We see that post after post.
You don’t need to cook food, you can have salads, bread, cheese, cold meats etc. I had gas when Longford went up. I found alternate ways to feed myself instead of whining about the lack of a cooktop. Mind you the blanket baths instead of a hot water system got a tad old quickly. That outage was many many days.
You don’t need to cook food, you can have salads, bread, cheese, cold meats et
Not without a fridge and not when your supermarket is closed due to lack of power.
Even the petrol stations is closed.
The fridge doesn’t lose coldness immediately. With ice bricks you can get a few days out of it. We know because when our fridge failed, and we were waiting for a new one, we used the ice bricks from the freezer to keep it cold. I suspect the power will be back on in the next couple of days. In the meantime live on what you already have and try to open the fridge sparingly. Fruit, raw salad veggies, crackers, yogurt, milk, cheese, etc will be fine for a couple of days. People might have bottled gas or wood fired barbie’s if they really want to cook.
I remember there being no gas for weeks after the Longford explosion.
“The fires caused by the explosion burned for two days, and many Victorians were left without gas for 19 days.”
I remember going with my dad to the local fish and chip shop he had no gas and instead a few fry pans going hardly any customers.
Instead of once a week treat we ended up going 2-4 nights a week during the gas outage Dad wanted to give him a bit more business during that time.
@2esc: We did similar things during Covid. We had one place we knew was struggling so we went regularly and left a big tip. They survived and are still going.
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https://www.ausgrid.com.au/Contact-Us/Make-a-claim-Step-1
I presume the same for CitiPower or whoever operates Victoria.
Maybe on your Home & Contents Insurance if included?