OVERVIEW

BEL understands that power outages are inconvenient and we endeavour to minimise their impact to our consumers wherever possible in terms of their frequency, duration and number of consumers affected. Outages are either:

• Planned – to allow network construction, maintenance and tree trimming work to be undertaken
• Unplanned – caused by network faults or the need to carry out emergency repairs

PLANNED OUTAGES

Planned outages are notified in advance so that you can plan ahead and make alternative arrangements. BEL will notify your electricity retailer at least 10 business days in advance of a planned outage, and your electricity retailer will in turn inform you if you will be affected. In some rare cases, where the planned outage area is small and/or a shorter notification period is require at shorter notice, BEL may notify affected consumers directly. Note that as electricity retailers generally notify consumers by mail, it may take some days before you received your notification. A list of scheduled planned outages is provided here. On occasions, we may be unable to proceed with work on the day the planned outage is scheduled due to events beyond our control, such as the weather, or if more urgent fault work needs to be carried out elsewhere. In most cases provision is made for work to be carried out on an alternative day in the notification of the planned outage. In the case of a planned outage cancellation please check here, or on our facebook page. If you have any questions about planned outages, please contact us.

UNPLANNED OUTAGES

BEL fault staff are on call 24/7 and will be working on the problem as soon as it occurs. For localised outages affecting a small number of consumers, BEL relies on consumers logging a fault with their electricity retailer. For widespread outages we will be automatically informed that a fault has occurred by our network monitoring and communications systems. As a consumer, it may be difficult to tell how widespread an outage is, particularly for those in rural areas. If you are unsure call your electricity retailer to log the fault. If your premise is the only one without power, prior to calling your electricity retailer, check the circuit breakers and/or fuses on your switchboard to see if this is where the problem is. For updates on unplanned outages please check our Facebook page.

EMERGENCY FAULTS

To report an emergency fault, such as fallen power lines, please log a fault with your electricity retailer.