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A Network Outage Review was commissioned into into both the energy transmission and distribution system response to the 13 February 2024 storms, led by a panel of independent experts.
The expert panel was chaired by Rosemary Sinclair, the former CEO of Energy Consumers Australia, with panel members Gerard Brody and former chief executive of the Consumer Action Law Centre, and Kevin Kehl, Non-Executive Director of Energy Queensland, TasNetworks and Marinus Link and former executive leader at Powerlink Queensland and Energex.
The review sought input from the Australian Energy Market Operator, Australian Energy Regulator, Energy Safe Victoria, the Essential Services Commission, and other regulators.
Strong interest in the review saw well-attended stakeholder and community engagement during the consultation process, with the panel holding in-depth discussions with key agencies, local councils and impacted communities through public information sessions, open house and stakeholder meetings.
The panel also sought and received written submissions and conducted an online survey via the Engage Victoria website.
The expert panel delivered an interim report to the minister in July 2024 and its final report to the minister in August 2024. These reports and the terms of reference for the Network Outage Review are available below.
Government response to the Network Outage Review
The final report made 19 recommendations which place community at the centre and aim to get better outcomes for all Victorians. These recommendations form a clear pathway for Victoria’s transmission and distribution businesses to prepare better, prevent outages, and to more effectively reconnect and provide support to communities during and after events, and to continuously improve by learning from these experiences.
The Victorian Government supports in full, in part or in principle all 19 recommendations.
Implementation of the government response will contribute to:
- Reducing prolonged power outage impacts on Victorian communities, including improvements in supporting the community and infrastructure in areas of high risk.
- Improving the planning and preparation for business continuity for other critical infrastructure operators, like telecommunications and water, for the first 72 hours of an event.
The government response, and a short fact sheet on the government response are available below:
- Victorian Government response to Network Outage Review report pdf 2.9 MB
- Victorian Government response to Network Outage Review report - accessible docx 135.5 KB
- Victorian Government response to Network Outage Review factsheet pdf 308.2 KB
- Victorian Government response to Network Outage Review factsheet - accessible docx 144.9 KB
- Interim report network outage review 2024 pdf 2.7 MB
- Interim report network outage review 2024 - accessible docx 7.5 MB
- Final report: February 2024 storm and power outage event pdf 2.4 MB
- Final report: February 2024 storm and power outage event - accessible docx 3.4 MB
- Cockatoo Emerald Gembrook Monbulk engagement summary pdf 311.9 KB
- Mirboo North engagement summary pdf 295.8 KB
- Terms of reference - Network Outage Review - system response to 13 Feb storms pdf 140.8 KB
Next steps
Implementation of the Network Outage Review recommendations will progress as outlined in the government response.
Page last updated: 21/01/25