Northern NSW residents prepare for possible multiday power outages

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Thousands of people on the New South Wales north coast are already without power even before cyclone Alfred hits. Energy crews are working to restore power, but there is no indication for when it will return or for how long.

Transcript

00:00Yes, it can be power lines down high winds, et cetera, or maybe a substation's been taken

00:06out and that can take out large areas.

00:09So we do see it in severe weather events where we have large areas often without power for

00:14those reasons, and we have the electrical crews are out and about working really hard

00:18to get that power back on as soon as possible.

00:21It is possible that some residents where there's been flooding, they may get a note in their

00:25letterbox from Energex or Essential Energy telling them that they need to get a safety

00:31check before the house can be re-energised.

00:33If they get that note in their letterbox, then follow the instructions.

00:37Essentially that's to engage a licensed electrical contractor to make sure everything's right

00:41before it's re-energised.

00:42So ahead of a storm, people need to make sure obviously all the little things like taking

00:46in any loose furniture and thinking about what might actually fly around if they haven't

00:51yet.

00:52It's probably getting a bit late to be trimming trees and things, so hopefully they've already

00:56done that.

00:57If they do have solar on their roof, they may choose to turn off the inverter.

01:03So that's the box inside the garage.

01:06So Energex does recommend solar customers turn off the inverter itself, but it is really

01:13important that everyone knows that if they turning off the inverter doesn't actually

01:19take away the risk of direct current in the cables and the panels themselves.

01:23So it's very important not to touch those panels, not to get up on the roof, do not

01:28touch the cables and always get a licensed electrical contractor if you want to actually

01:34shut down the array completely.

01:36Our big message and what I want everyone to take away is never DIY with electricity, never.

01:43Don't touch it, don't think that you can repair things.

01:45If something is damaged, do not touch it, do not try and repair electricity.

01:50If the switchboard's been inundated by water, for example, call a licensed electrical contractor

01:56to fix that.

01:57Do not try and fix that yourself.

01:59If the power lines are down, just steer well clear of those, like meters and meters clear.

02:05If you've got underground power and you've got a service box, so one of those green boxes

02:10up the street, if that's been inundated by floodwater, for example, again, just steer

02:14clear of that and wait for the crews to come and turn the power back on.

02:18Electrical contractors are trained, they're competent, they're the ones that know how

02:21to deal with electricity and to fix issues.

02:25So that's why you always need to make sure you've got someone who's qualified and trained

02:28to deal with it.

02:29They know what to do.

02:30We provide lots of information to our members as well, proactively.

02:34If people are worried, they can go to the Energex website or Essential Energy website

02:38and they can look for information there as well.

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