The first five minutes
Anyone in contact with the power?
Don't touch them. Ring 000. Switch off at the main switch only if you can reach it without touching them or anything wet.
Dark street, or a line on the ground?
That's Powercor on 13 24 12. Its outage map shows unplanned faults with when the crew is due and an estimated restoration time.
Only your place is out?
Look at the switchboard. Unplug things on the tripped circuit and reset the safety switch once. If it drops straight back off, leave it off.
Water, smoke or scorch marks?
Keep that circuit, or the whole house, switched off until a licensed electrician has looked at it.
A line down in the wind: keep 8 to 10 metres back
Geelong's worst outages arrive with wind, and that's when lines end up across fences, cars and footpaths. Energy Safe Victoria says to stay more than 8 to 10 metres away, treat the line as live even when it's quiet, and report it to Powercor on 13 24 12 and to the police. If a life is in danger, ring 000.
What Geelong's emergencies have looked like
October 2021
Gusts over 100 km/h early on 29 October left the Geelong, Bellarine and Surf Coast municipalities as the hardest hit of that storm run. Over 526,000 households across Victoria lost power. When a whole region is down, restoring it is Powercor's work, and no electrician can speed that up.
February 2025
Thousands of overnight lightning strikes left 2,411 Geelong customers off supply at 9.20am, with 364 still waiting at 3.15pm. If your neighbours come back on and you don't, the fault may be on your side.
The Barwon floods
The Barwon River broke its banks in 1952 and again in 1995. Power points, hot water units and air conditioner outdoor units that sat in water need checking before anyone uses them.
Your side of the connection, or Powercor's?
Powercor owns the network and the meter. If it finds a defect on the property side, like a loose or missing service hook on the house, the owner gets a defect notice, arranges the repair and then lodges a compliance form. If wind has torn the line off the house, report it to Powercor first: treat it as a fallen line until they say otherwise.
Inside the house, it's electrician work: a safety switch that won't reset, half the rooms dark, a scorched power point, a hot smell from the switchboard. While you wait, our guide to power out in part of the house can help you work out which.
Flagging an urgent Geelong job with us
There's no after-hours phone line here. When you send the job, pick Something's not working, then Today, it's urgent. If we have a licence-checked electrician near you who does fault finding and urgent repairs, we pass it straight to them and they contact you. We can't promise how fast.
Have the details ready for their call: what happened just before, which switch tripped, and anything that's scorched or still warm. Repairs to fixed wiring come with a Certificate of Electrical Safety, so ask for yours.
Safe for you, and what waits for the electrician
You can
- Switch off at the main switch, if the meter box is dry and undamaged.
- Reset a tripped safety switch once.
- Unplug whatever sparked or smelled hot, and keep it unplugged.
- Save 13 24 12 in your phone before the next storm.
Leave to a licensed electrician
- Any power point, switch or fitting that's scorched, buzzing or melted.
- A safety switch that trips straight back off.
- Checking anything that's been in floodwater.
- Repairs to the service hook or wiring on your side of the connection.
If it were our place in Geelong
We'd keep a torch beside the switchboard and Powercor's number in every phone in the house. When the wind's up and a line comes down, we'd ring Powercor and stay well back. Only once the street's supply is back, or the network tells us the fault is ours, would we call an electrician.
Want a specialist to sort it?
Tell us the job and your postcode. We match the licence-checked local electrician who does this kind of work, and they call you. No ring-around, and your number goes to them alone.