Australian power suppliers to pay $3.9m in compensation over outages

Around 50,000 homes lost power, with some up to 30 hours, on 28 January.

Reuters reported that power companies in Australia’s second most populous state will pay A$5 million ($3.9 million) in compensation to households hit by electricity outages during a heatwave in late January, the Victorian state government said on Sunday.

About 50,000 households lost power on Jan. 28, some for up to 30 hours, as temperatures topped 40 degrees C (104°F), overloading the power grid in the southern state.

Affected households would be eligible for a one-off payment of up to A$180 each, to be funded by Powercor, CitiPower, United Energy, Ausnet Services and Jemena, the government said.

View the full report here.