05 Jan 2022
On Monday 3 January 2022, the ACT experienced a severe storm resulting in extensive damage to homes and infrastructure including critical damage to the ACT’s electricity network.
At the height of the storm, we had around 21,000 homes and businesses without power across Belconnen and Gungahlin and as of Wednesday 5 January 2022, 2,497 remain without power. We are rotating all available Evoenergy staff on shifts to manage the response and restore power as quickly and safely as possible, however expect some homes and businesses may remain without power until tomorrow.
Evoenergy Acting General Manager Alison Davis says the damage to the electricity network is the most severe observed in the ACT for many years.
"At Evoenergy we’ve seen serious and extreme conditions, but the weather on Monday afternoon has resulted in some of the worst damage to our network on record. Our crews are highly trained and are continuing to work as safely and quickly as possible, but working to repair the type of damage we’ve assessed over the past two days is complex, time-consuming and incredibly challenging,” said Alison.
"Our crews are working meticulously and methodically to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of all workers and the broader community, as efforts continue around the clock.”
"We’re working closely with the ACT Emergency Services Agency to prioritise the assessments of damage and conduct repairs. We’re coordinating efforts to ensure we’re as efficient and effective as possible as we work through the high volume of incidents.”
"Right now, I want to assure Canberrans that we’ll keep going till we get the job done.”
"With further storms forecast this week we are carefully planning our resourcing over the coming days to ensure we have crews available in the event of more extreme weather.”
Evoenergy would like to thank the community for their patience and ongoing support, and for reporting network damage quickly.
For information on reported storm related incidents visit www.evoenergy.com.au/outages, or for information about weather warnings and the ACT Emergency Services Agency response visit www.esa.act.gov.au.
For further media information only: 0414 515 359
