Power out in Traralgon: is it the network or your house?

If your neighbours’ lights and the street lights are also out, the problem is almost certainly on the AusNet Services network, and you report it to AusNet, not an electrician. If only your house is dark, or only part of it, look at your switchboard: a tripped safety switch or circuit breaker points to a fault inside the home, which is a job for a licensed electrician. A few minutes of safe checking tells you which call to make.

First, is anyone in danger?

Before anything else, look for danger. If a power line is down, there are sparks or smoke, or someone has had a shock, stay well clear of the line or the equipment and contact emergency services. Treat any fallen line as live. Do not try to move it, and keep children and pets away. Nothing on this page applies until everyone is safe.

How do I tell a network outage from a fault at home?

Use what you can see from the front door and the board.

What you notice	Likely cause	Who deals with it
Whole street dark, street lights off	Network outage	AusNet Services
Your house and a few neighbours out after a storm	Network outage, often trees on lines	AusNet Services
Only your house out, neighbours lit, nothing tripped on your board	Supply problem at the pole, service line or meter	AusNet first; it can tell you if the fault is on its side
Only your house or part of it out, a switch on your board is down	Fault or overload inside the home	Licensed electrician
Lights dimming or flickering across the street	Network issue	AusNet Services
Lights flickering in one room only	Fitting, switch or circuit fault	Licensed electrician

What can I safely check at the switchboard?

Open the switchboard door, but do not take off any covers or touch exposed parts.

1. Look for any switch that sits in a different position from the others. Safety switches usually have a button marked T or Test; circuit breakers are the rows of smaller switches.
2. If a safety switch has tripped, switch off or unplug the appliances on that circuit first, then try resetting it once by lifting or twisting it back on, as Energy Safe’s safety switch guidance describes.
3. If it trips again at once, leave it off. Something on that circuit has a fault, and resetting it over and over will not fix it.
4. If a circuit breaker has tripped, the same idea applies: reduce the load and try once.
5. If everything on the board is on and the house is still dark, the issue is likely upstream of your board.

If anything is hot, smells of burning, buzzes, or there is water near the board, do not touch it. Leave the area and get help.

When the fault is clearly inside the house, the fault finding page covers how an electrician traces it, and the safety switches page explains what the switch is doing when it cuts power.

How do I report an outage to AusNet Services?

AusNet Services is the network business that supplies homes in the Latrobe Valley, and it is the one that restores power after a storm. Its outages page offers:

• Outage Tracker, which shows current outages, where they are and the expected restoration time.
• Report a fault online if your outage is not already listed.
• Outage alerts by SMS or email for unplanned outages, set up through its notifications page.
• Life support registration, so customers who rely on life support equipment get alerts and can plan for interruptions.
• Claims for equipment damaged by a voltage variation, which may lead to compensation.
• Information on planned outages and why they happen.

If your house relies on medical equipment that needs power, register with AusNet before you need it, and keep a plan for what to do if supply is off for hours.

What has happened in past Valley storms?

The Valley has a recent record of long outages from wind. The Latrobe Valley Express reported that in the wind events of late August and early September 2024, AusNet recorded 12,147 Latrobe Valley customers losing power after 86 incidents on the network, 407 of them life support customers. Traralgon topped the paper’s list of affected Valley suburbs with 3,106 outages, ahead of Moe and Newborough, and Tyers Road was briefly closed while the SES cleared it.

Water is the other risk. In June 2021 an east coast low brought flooding, and Traralgon was among the hardest-hit towns with about 200 homes evacuated. If floodwater has reached your switchboard, power points or meter box, do not turn the power back on yourself. Have a licensed electrician inspect and test the installation first.

What if a storm has damaged the line to my house?

After strong wind, look at the line that runs from the street to your house and at the meter box, from a distance. If a branch is lying on the line, the line is sagging low, or the meter box has been knocked or opened up, keep everyone well back and report it to AusNet through its fault reporting. Do not try to clear branches off any line, and do not let anyone reconnect or repair damaged supply equipment on your property until AusNet has looked at it. Once the supply side has been made safe, a licensed electrician can check anything inside the house that was affected, such as an outdoor power point or a light on the eaves that took water.

What should I do while the power is out?

Solar Victoria’s power outage advice covers the basics:

• Unplug appliances when the power goes out, in case of a spike when supply returns.
• Check that anything that heats up, such as the oven, is turned off so it does not start a fire when power comes back.
• Keep torches on hand, a fully charged power bank for your phone, and a barbecue or camp stove for cooking or boiling water.

What about all-electric homes?

All-electric homes are hit harder by an outage than dual-fuel homes, because cooking, heating and hot water all stop at once. Solar Victoria explains that solar and battery systems can supply stored energy during a blackout only if they are designed with backup power, and that a grid-connected system may be built to switch off when the grid goes down, so check what yours does. Fuel generators are another option, with fuel costs and emissions to weigh up. Anyone planning to go all-electric can read the gas to electric conversions page and ask the electrician about backup at the same time.

When should I call an electrician instead?

Send an electrician enquiry when:

• A safety switch or breaker keeps tripping after one reset.
• Part of the house has no power and nothing on the board has tripped.
• Power points or switches are warm, scorched or crackling.
• Appliances or electronics were damaged when power returned and you need a written report for an AusNet claim or insurance.
• Water reached any electrical equipment during a storm or flood.

Any repair after an outage is electrical work, so it needs a licensed person, and the paperwork for it is a Certificate of Electrical Safety in your name. If you want to ask for an electrician to trace the fault, the more detail you give, the better. The electrical businesses that receive enquiries from this site are independent and set their own hours; this site does not send anyone out, so contact AusNet directly for network faults. The Traralgon area page has more about the town itself.

Next step: describe what tripped and what still works

If the outage turned out to be inside your home, put these details in your enquiry:

• Which switch on the board tripped (safety switch or circuit breaker), and whether it resets.
• Which rooms or appliances have no power, and which still work.
• What was running when it happened, such as a heater, kettle or outdoor equipment.
• Whether it followed rain, a storm or flooding.
• A photo of the board with the door open and covers on.

Then report your home electrical fault with your suburb, and an independent electrician can decide how to help.

Send a job enquiry