After a storm on the peninsula
Treat every fallen line as live
Keep more than 10 metres away and report it to United Energy on 13 20 99. Call 000 if anyone is in danger.
Street dark? That's United Energy
In the September 2024 storms, with gusts up to 120 km/h, United Energy restored more than 47,000 customers across the south-east and the peninsula.
Still off when the street's back?
United Energy said customers still without power after that may have a defect at their own property. Check your safety switches, then call an electrician.
Building damage
Call the SES on 132 500. Leave any circuit that's been wet switched off until a licensed electrician has tested it.
What's different about the peninsula
Holiday houses
Of the shire's 93,502 private dwellings, 24,525 (27.5%) were unoccupied on census night. Victorian Places calls Portsea, Sorrento and Flinders holiday towns, while Hastings and Somerville are places where people live and work.
Storm after storm
On 9 June 2021, the busiest night in SES history, peninsula units logged 190 calls at Hastings, 84 at Sorrento and 74 at Mount Eliza. In September 2024, Hastings SES had 176 jobs and Sorrento 130.
Bushfire-prone hills
The shire's fire management plan calls the peninsula one of the most bushfire-prone areas in the world, with catastrophic fires rated likely at Red Hill, Main Ridge and parts of Crib Point. United Energy has moved almost 600 metres of high voltage line underground at Main Ridge.
Summer demand on the network
United Energy says demand at its Sorrento zone substation normally peaks over Christmas and New Year, and it plans a new Hastings to Rosebud line, proposed for June 2031, for demand and voltage limits in the lower peninsula.
Jobs that come with a holiday house
Before summer. Test the safety switches with their test buttons, check every smoke alarm, and get anything that tripped while you were away looked at. Fire Rescue Victoria advises replacing smoke alarms every ten years, and holiday houses are where old ones linger.
After a storm you weren't there for. Water through a damaged roof can reach light fittings and ceiling cables without anyone noticing. If the house has been hit, have the circuits tested before the family arrives.
Rentals. Holiday lets aside, 18.6% of the shire's homes were rented at the 2021 Census, and Victoria's 2-yearly electrical check applies to them.
What we'd do with a peninsula holiday house
We'd book a quick electrical check each spring, before the first long weekend: safety switches, smoke alarms and a look at anything storms might have touched over winter. It's a short visit, and it's much better than finding a fault on Boxing Day.
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.