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Coronavirus (COVID-19)

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We’re committed to bringing you safe and reliable power and gas. As the pandemic continues to evolve, we’re continuing to adapt our approach so we can continue to keep the power on and the gas flowing.

 

Our vaccination status

Community health and safety is our number one priority. We’re supporting our people, in line with their medical advice, to be up to date with their vaccinations in order to comply with the Victorian Government’s health directions. This includes our contractors and sub-contractors.

 

COVID-19 measures

Like many organisations, we’ve been impacted by staff shortages due to people isolating after exposure to COVID-19.

This may mean that some services take longer than expected, including responding to enquiries. We appreciate your patience and we’re doing everything we can to continue providing the highest level of service during this time.

The safety and wellbeing of our staff is important to us. We’ve put a number of measures in place to protect our people and regularly communicate with our employees and contractors to ensure appropriate safety protocols are being followed.

Here are some COVID-safe measures we’ve put in place:

  • Cancelling non-essential visits to external sites and conducting external meetings via teleconference where possible.
  • Extra hygiene measures, temperature check stations, frequent cleaning of high-touch areas, and sanitisers.
  • Practising strict social distancing and hygiene rules, especially when working on our customer’s premises.

 

Our field teams continue to provide essential services, including responding to faults and carrying out emergency repairs and critical maintenance works.

Our teams follow strict hygiene and physical distancing measures. If you come across one our field teams, please keep a safe 1.5m distance.

We keep up to date with and follow the latest announcements and health advice from:

 

FAQs

  • Is there enough capacity in the network to support people self-isolating, working and looking after children at home?

    Yes, there is enough capacity in the network to support the changing ways Victorians work and live during a pandemic.

    Although residential energy use has increased during the pandemic, a reduction in energy use by our business customers has helped to balance things out, so the network remains safe and reliable for everyone.

    We’re constantly monitoring the network for any changes in demand and capacity to ensure there is enough energy for all our customers.

  • Why are you going ahead with outages?

    Planned power and gas outages are an important part of maintaining the network so that we can continue to deliver reliable energy to you. During lockdown restrictions, we still need to go ahead with some outages to carry out critical maintenance - this work is necessary to keep the network reliable, ensure customer safety or for bushfire mitigation. We know that power and gas outages aren’t convenient, so we work hard to reduce the length of outages and minimise the impact on you.

    As government restrictions change, we assess our planned outages to identify what is critical and what can be delayed.

  • Where can I find more information regarding my planned outage?

    We’ll send you a letter before any planned outages in your area so you can prepare. The letter will include details such as the date and duration of the outage. We’ll also send you a SMS or letter drop reminder closer to the time. You can also check our outage tracker for dates of upcoming outages in your area, including the status and restoration times of current outages.

  • How are you looking after life support customers in the pandemic?

    During planned and unplanned outages, we always prioritise our customers registered as having life support equipment.

    Throughout the pandemic, we’ve continued to maintain our levels of service for our life support customers, including the priority line available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

    If you have life support equipment on your premises, you can register by calling:

    • your power or gas retailer - the company you receive your power or gas bills from, or
    • our life support priority line on 1800 818 832.

    For more information, see Life Support.

  • How will you guarantee supply for critical services sites such as hospitals, key infrastructure and key supply chain businesses?

    We prioritise all work that ensures a reliable energy supply to essential services, including hospitals, medical centres, supermarkets, community services and factories manufacturing medical products such as face masks and hand sanitiser.

    We work closely with government and other agencies to understand which businesses are providing critical services to the COVID-19 response. We use this information as part of our maintenance planning to minimise disruption to these critical businesses. If a planned outage is impacting a critical business, we review this work on a case-by-case basis.

    If you’re currently providing critical services and have any questions about an upcoming planned outage, please email us at plannedoutages@ausnetservices.com.au.

  • I have stocked up on food. How do I manage perishable items if the power goes out?
    For more information, visit the Department of Health’s Food safety during power outages page.
  • Will my new connection be delayed?
    There are no significant impacts to our normal gas and electricity business operations, including new connections.
  • Will you still be conducting work around my property?
    Our field team continue to maintain the gas and electricity network and repair any faults. Some of our work requires visiting homes and businesses. We’ll only ask for access to a property if it’s absolutely necessary to ensure your safety or the continuity of a safe gas or electricity supply.

    It’s important that our field team are allowed access to a property so that we can continue our critical work. We’ll take every precaution to keep customers safe during our work and our teams will follow all government health and safety advice.
  • How are you ensuring it is safe to access homes and businesses?

    We work closely with government and public health bodies to make sure we’re working safely and in line with expert advice. If our field team need to enter your home or business to restore your power or gas, we’ll ask whether you’ve recently returned from overseas or are self-isolating so we can make the relevant arrangements.

    Our field teams have been fully briefed on specific protocols to follow when working on a customer’s premises. They’ll wear protective equipment, following strict hygiene rules, practice social distancing where possible and avoid contact with any surfaces.

  • If I am experiencing financial hardship as a result of COVID-19, how do I find out if I am eligible for relief? How do I make a claim for relief?
    Along with other Australian energy network businesses, we have a relief package to help customers experiencing hardship due to COVID-19. Contact your retailer to see if you meet the eligibility criteria. Your retailer can also tell you how to apply for the relief package.