Power outages increase in frequency and severity across Australia and NZ

Power outages are becoming more frequent across Australia and New Zealand, increasing from 94 reported outages in 2012 to 162 in 2013 - an increase of 72% in 2013. As the number of incidents has risen, so too has the number of people affected: this has increased 159%, from 487,242 in 2012 to 1,264,039 in 2013.

The average duration of each outage also increased, rising 60% from 105 to 168 minutes. In total, 6061 minutes (slightly more than four days) were lost to power outages across the region.

These are among the findings contained in the Australian and New Zealand Blackout Tracer Annual report for 2013, an annual compilation of reported power outages prepared by power management company Eaton.

The most common cause of outages, accounting for four in ten (41%) blackouts, was natural events such as high winds, storms and falling trees. The second most frequent cause (31%) was human error and/or faulty equipment. Other factors leading to outages included vehicle accidents (8%), planned outages (3%), animals (3%) and unknown causes (14%).

As in previous years, birds feature prominently as an unusual cause of outages. In Christchurch, a black swan that flew into an overhead line managed to knock out power to 12,000 customers, while in Boulia, Queensland, it was a flock of grey and pink galahs that interrupted power when they flew into town and rested on the power lines.

Human error was evident in Kingaroy, Queensland, where an excavator came into contact with overhead power lines, cutting electricity to 1260 people, and again in Auckland when a car fleeing police hit a transformer, causing lights to go out across the city.

One of the most unfortunate outages occurred at Summerland Point, New South Wales, when the water-bombing bucket under a helicopter became entangled in high-voltage power lines. The helicopter was helping to control back-burning operations at the Lake Munmorah State Conservation Area when it managed to bring down wires and cut power to thousands of residents.

For the second consecutive year, New Zealand’s North Island had the largest number of reported outages (50), followed by New South Wales (25), Queensland (23), South Island (21), Victoria (16), Western Australia (13), Northern Territory (8), South Australia (3), Tasmania (2) and Australian Capital Territory (1).

The Eaton report notes that many organisations face significant risk to continuity should power outages occur. Among those most likely to be affected are data centres, financial institutions, manufacturing industries, medical facilities, military operations, control centres, consulting and IT services organisations, perishable goods, public safety and entertainment venues.

“For an increasing number of organisations and individuals, reliance on power is absolute. At the very simplest level, few businesses can continue to operate without access to their information or communication systems. When the power goes out, transactions cease, revenue is lost and business grinds to a halt. Even when the lights come back on, it takes time to work out what systems or processes have been affected by the outage and whether any remedial action is required,” said Stefan Buerki, marketing manager, Eaton’s ANZ Power Quality division.

“With the number of blackouts on the rise, businesses should be taking steps to protect their operations. They need to equip themselves with tools such as surge protectors, uninterruptible power supplies and generators that will help to avoid any downtime, and that will keep their data safe and the business working throughout any outage.”

To download the entire annual report, visit www.eaton.com/blackouttracker.