Heat Wave, Early 2009 Southeastern Australia 22
Heat Wave, Early 2009 Southeastern Australia 22 : (5) Effects: (5. 1) Energy: Localised power outages occurred throughout both cities during the week at varying times for various lengths. It is estimated that over 500,000 residents in Melbourne were without power for the evening of 30 January 2009. The outage affected much of central Melbourne with train and tram services cancelled, the evacuation of Crown Casino, traffic light failures, people being rescued from lifts and patrons of the Victorian Arts Centre evacuated and shows cancelled. The outage occurred only an hour after the National Electricity Market Management Company (NEMMCO) issued a statement saying load shedding was ending and power had been restored. Blackouts also occurred in the city's west, caused by the three-day heat wave. It is believed an explosion at South Morang contributed to the power problems along three transmission lines supplying Victoria's west and Victorian power supplier SP AusNet shed 1,000 megawatts. On the 30th, Energy Minister Peter Batchelor announced consumers who lose power for more than 20 hours would be eligible for compensation. Areas that didn't experience blackouts still had problems with abnormally low voltage (probably due to increased air-conditioner usage). As of 1 February, the heat wave is estimated to have cost the Victorian economy $100m during the week.
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