The Allan Labor Government is holding privatised electricity distribution companies to account, helping to protect local communities from power outages due to extreme weather events.
Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D'Ambrosio today introduced nation leading legislation to Parliament to
require electricity distribution businesses develop and publish five-yearly resilience plans, with penalties for non-compliance.
Victoria's electricity distribution network was privatised by the Liberal Government in the 1990s and is now owned and operated by private companies with network expenditure approved on a five-yearly basis by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER).
As climate change drives more extreme weather like January's heatwave, the poles and wires that make up the distribution network are subject to damage. That's why the Labor Government has intervened to ensure that private businesses spend more on increasing network resilience to help keep the power on.
Victoria was the first state to force distribution businesses to start planning for resilience last year by changing national rules to make sure the AER considers network resilience when assessing five-yearly network plans. This change complements the new Victorian requirement to publish separate network resilience plans.
If passed, the new legislation will obligate network companies to submit Network Resilience Plans to Victoria's independent regulator, Energy Safe Victoria.
Energy Safe Victoria will ensure that companies implement their plans and invest in solutions that will help to keep the power on for Victorians - non-compliance could result a $1.2 million penalty.
These reforms are critical to delivering reliable power supply to Victorians, especially those susceptible to extreme weather, and vulnerable people such as the elderly and life-support customers.
Examples of investments that could form part of resilience plans include batteries, stand-alone power systems, and additional feeder lines to remote communities.
Labor is focused on keeping the lights on and lowering the cost of living for all Victorians - in stark contrast to Jess Wilson's Liberal Party, whose first instinct was to associate with known climate change deniers like One Nation's Barnaby Joyce, who peddles falsehoods about renewable energy.
The new laws are the latest in a series of actions following the Victorian Government's 2022 independent Electricity Distribution Network Resilience Review. For more information, visit energy.vic.gov.au/about-energy/safety/power-outages.
As stated by Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D'Ambrosio
"Victoria has done more than any other state to increase the resilience of our network in the face of increasingly extreme weather."
"We've seen the impact that January's heatwaves and bushfires had on Victoria's electricity network and we need to ensure that distribution networks and local communities are protected from power outages."
