mmg.com.au

Changes to the management of electricity during fire danger periods could affect reliability for farm businesses.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Andrew Broad said the Victorian Government had announced changes to the management of electricity in the fire danger period. He said power lines would be managed differently during the high fire danger period this year and this had the potential to affect electricity reliability for the six weeks after January 23.

‘‘There will be about 6000 customers in the west of the state who will get a letter notifying of the change,’’ Mr Broad said.

‘‘I urge all farmers to heed this warning.’’

‘‘The changes to the management will mean that every fault for those 6000 customers will require a crew to investigate before power will be returned during that six-week period.

‘‘There is certainly the potential to lose power for a significant amount of time.

‘‘This may mean investment in generators to make sure that animal welfare is not compromised.

‘‘If farmers experience any problems with electricity reliability they should be contacting their distributor.

‘‘The changes to electricity distribution will also affect all other customers on Total Fire Ban days. Across the state, electricity will not return after a fault until the cause has been investigated by a crew to determine it is safe to do so.’’

Mr Broad said the result may be long power outages on Total Fire Ban days.

The VFF has requested an extensive monitoring program to determine the full impact of this change.