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Reopening of prolonged outage program was called out by Mr Northe as some residents still have no power after five days

Member for Morwell Russell Northe has called upon the State Government to reopen the Prolonged Power Outage Program to assist residents who have been without power for many days and since storms battered parts of the State last Friday.

By news@gippsland - 4th November 2021 - Back to News

Many locals within the Morwell electorate have again been left without power for an extended period which understandably has caused great distress across the community. "I have received contact from multiple homeowners stating they were now 5 days without electricity and despite the best efforts of those working on the poles and wires and removing debris, there was still little information as to when power will be restored for many residents" Mr Northe said.

Customers who experience many or long unplanned power outages during a year may be entitled to a payment, these payments are calculated each year and are usually applied automatically as a credit to your energy bill

Supporting the residents

Many of these same locals experienced very similar circumstances in June when the Latrobe Valley area suffered from a damaging flood and storm event and to which the government quite rightly initially opened the Prolonged Power Outage Program for application.

It seems only fair that residents are again supported by this program to assist with the out of pocket expenses that go hand in hand with being without electricity for an extended period. "Many residents have lost perishables and are without water due to having no power or access to generators. The costs to replace these items once again could be compensated through the State Governments Prolonged Power Outage Program." said Mr Northe.

Mr Northe urges the government to support all those affected by the storm event and who still remain without power. For more information on the previous version of the program please visit the customer payments.

Pictures from Energy Australia Facebook page.

Source: www.gippsland.com

Published by: news@gippsland.com