News
Prioritising critical works during COVID-19 restrictions
Critical maintenance work - COVID-19
Ausgrid is constantly reviewing all planned outages and is only continuing with work that is critical.We understand being without power during this time is a huge inconvenience for families and those working from home. However, we need to balance this with the safety of our customers and staff and security of reliable power supply for all our customers across Greater Sydney, Central Coast, Newcastle and the Hunter.
We only ever turn the power off where it’s absolutely necessary to keep people safe while we undertake critical tasks. We know it’s a challenging time and we apologise for the additional inconvenience.
Any customer who is impacted by this critical work has already been notified and we continue to reach out to our life support customers to ensure there is a plan B in place.
We thank our customers for their patience, understanding and support as our team work around the clock to keep the lights on and the community safe.
To check for critical works scheduled in your area visit the website's power outage list and click the 'Planned' tab.
Rob Amphlett Lewis – Ausgrid Chief Customer Officer:
“We understand any outage during stay-at-home orders will add an additional inconvenience during these difficult times, that’s why we are reviewing each one and only going ahead with those that are essential to secure power to customers including hospitals, aged care facilities, businesses and residential homes.
“If we do not undertake this work, power supply may be at risk and could result in much longer, unexpected outages in the middle of winter.
“We know this is tough for families and those working from home, but a few hours of discomfort now may prevent potentially serious issues which could result in lengthy power outages. We are reaching out to our Life Support Customers to ensure there is an appropriate back up plan in place.
“Our job is to ensure security of power supply for everyone, especially in these uncertain times. Our crews are working hard doing what they need to do to keep the lights on. Turning the power off while they work keeps our workers safe.
We understand people will be frustrated by these critical outages, but please don’t take it out on our staff. They are essential workers and they’re doing the best they can in difficult circumstances. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect when they come to work.”
For more information about the status of planned work in your area, please check the Power Outage Map.