Who do I need to contact?

If you experience a blackout, it’s important to contact your local distributor. Your energy distributor is the company that owns and operates the poles, wires and grid that provide your home with energy. Your distributor’s determined by where you live so you don’t get to choose them – unlike your energy retailer (Origin).

Your local distributor can provide info about the cause of the outage and will likely be able to provide you with an estimated time when the power will be restored in your area.

How do I find my energy distributor?

Some postcodes have several distributors. If you see more than one listed you can confirm which one services your area by looking at your bill. Their number will be listed under ‘Faults and Emergencies’.

If you don’t have your bill handy, we’ve got you covered. Just pop your postcode into our Distributor Look-up Tool and we’ll tell you who your distributor is.

My power’s out, what do I do?

Your number one priority during a power outage is to stay safe.

Be energy safe

Be careful not to burn yourself when using candles and other open flames for light, and keep naked flames away from any flammable materials.

Food safety

Try to keep your cold and frozen food cold by moving it all to the freezer and only opening the freezer and fridge when necessary to keep it as cold as possible. 

It’s generally recommended that food can be kept and eaten for up to 4 hours and then it must be thrown away or, if it’s raw meat, cooked and eaten. When your power’s restored, if your frozen food is still solid, the food should be safe to refreeze – but approach this on a case by case basis.

If you have any questions, contact the Department of Health and Human Services on 1300 364 352. 

In the event of an extended power outage, you may be eligible for a credit to reimburse you for spoiled goods. Your local distributor will be able to advise whether you’re eligible for this.

Take care of one another

If you have neighbours or relatives that may have special needs (such as the elderly or those with a disability), be supportive. Check up on them to make sure they’re safe and provide assistance where you can.

If a neighbour or relative has life support, and their supply has been affected, help assist them to the nearest hospital if safe to do so. If it’s not safe, reach out to the ambulance service by calling triple zero (000).

What will happen to my solar system?

When you initially connect your solar system to the network, you need to abide by the network’s connection standard. This means the inverter must follow grid operation. So if the grid’s down the inverter needs to, and will, shut down automatically.

This is because linesmen may be harmed when repairing faulty electricity wires travelling back into the grid from your solar system. After the repairs have been made, your solar power system will automatically turn on during daylight hours. If you have a battery backup system connected to your solar system, then depending on the wiring, some internal services like your fridge could still be operated by the batteries.

I have an electric garage door, what should I do?

Many garage doors feature a manual release function to bypass the opening mechanism during power outages, so don’t fear. To activate this, depending on your door, there will be a short rope hanging down that usually ends with a red, T-shaped handle. Pull this cord to release the door from the drive chain or belt. 

Pulling this cord will allow you to manually raise your garage door. When power comes back on, you may have to manually reset your garage door’s automatic opening system. If you have any issues, contact your garage door installer.

What if a natural disaster or emergency is occurring?

If a flood or bushfire has caused a power outage in your home, you need to act appropriately.

Floods or storms

If you’re impacted by flooding or a damaging storm, your best point of contact is your State Emergency Service (SES):

• NSW SES
• VIC SES
• QLD Disaster Management
• SA SES
• ACT ESA
• WA Emergency
• Secure NT

Bushfires

Electricity and natural gas supplies are often disconnected during bushfires for safety reasons. Contact your local distributor to get an update on whether a disconnection has occurred.

If you’re in a high-risk location for a bushfire, contact your state fire service:

• NSW Rural Fire Service
• VIC Emergency & Country Fire Authority
• QLD Fire Department
• SA Country Fire Service
• ACT ESA
• WA Emergency
• Secure NT

If you have any further questions, our emergencies page can give you tips about what to do in the case of bushfires and floods.

Preparing for a natural disaster or wild weather

If there is a severe weather event predicted in your area, here are a few useful tips and resources to help ensure your home is prepared. In any weather event, your local distributor is your best contact for outage info. You can find your distributor’s contact details on the first page of your bill, or by popping your postcode into our look up tool. Jot these down and keep them handy.

If you have life support at your property, ensure you are across your backup plan and have planned for access to your nearest hospital.⁠

For storms or cyclones

• Secure the exterior of your home by bringing all outside patio furniture, potted plants, bikes and toys indoors.⁠
• Source sandbags to keep water away from your property. Check whether your local council is offering these for free.
• If you have a generator, test it ahead of time and ensure you have adequate fuel on hand.⁠
• Charge power banks and any other appliances you may need (such as iPads, eBook readers, laptops, etc for entertainment) ahead of the weather event.
• Other important items to ensure you have on hand include bottled drinking water, food to last you between 5-7 days, torches, batteries, a battery powered radio to keep up to date with weather warnings, first aid kit and medication.⁠

For bushfires

A home that’s well prepared for bushfire season is more likely to survive a bushfire or ember attack according to the NSW Rural Fire Service.

Here are their maintenance tips to ensure your home is bushfire ready:

• Clean your gutters of leaves and twigs, and install metal gutter guards.
• Attach a fire sprinkler system to your gutters.
• Repair damaged or missing tiles on the roof, enclose any gaps under the house and repair any in external walls.
• Fit seals around doors and windows to eliminate gaps inside the home.
• Keep lawns short and gardens well maintained.
• Cut back trees and shrubs overhanging buildings.
• Clean up fallen leaves, twigs and debris around the property.
• Have hoses long enough to reach around your house.
• If you have a pool, tank or dam, put a Static Water Supply (SWS) sign on your property entrance, so firefighters know where they can get water.
• Ensure you have an emergency survival kit on hand. Including things like: portable battery-operated radio, waterproof torch, spare batteries, first aid kit (with manual), candles with waterproof matches, woollen blankets, bottled drinking water (at least 3L for each person per day), medication and appliance chargers.

Tips for keeping the kids entertained

With TVs, computers and gaming consoles off the table (unless they’re battery operated of course), we’ve pulled together some easy ways to keep the kids entertained whilst waiting for power to be restored.

• Have a storytelling and shadow puppet show. Use a flashlight to take turns creating different animals and characters on the walls and creating stories to go with them.
• Pull out the board or card games and take the opportunity to bring the whole family together for some quality time.
• Who says forts are just for kids? Use blankets, pillows and sheets to create a cosy hideout inside.
• Pull out your craft supplies markers, paints and scrapbooks or download our colouring in sheet and get crafty together.

Have any more questions?

If you want to learn more about power outages, how this might affect your home or how to be better prepared, we recommend visiting your local distributors website.  

The post What to do in a power outage appeared first on The Origin Blog.

So, what is load shedding?

Load shedding is a last resort measure that distributors enact to balance supply and demand of electricity across the National Electricity Market (the NEM). When there’s not enough power supply to meet the demand of electricity within the country, or states, the grid may become unstable. Instability poses a number of risks including damage to essential equipment within the grid and large rolling blackouts affecting a large amount of households.  
 
To avoid the risk of instability, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) – who is responsible for maintaining the reliability and security of the NEM – makes the decision on how much electricity consumption needs to be reduced and distributors determine how their portion of the load will be shed across their network to help balance demand. 
 
It’s important to note that AEMO is the only body that can direct distributors to load shed. 

Why does load shedding happen?

Though load shedding is a last resort it may be necessary due to a number of factors including:  

• A major electricity generator going offline unexpectedly due to equipment failure 
• Damage to assets due to severe weather events like storms, cyclones and bushfires. 
• Heatwave conditions resulting in very high levels of power consumption by customers. 
   

Distributors do their best to minimise impacts on sensitive sites like hospitals and nursing homes where people depend on electricity for their safety. If you have a condition which requires you to have Life Support equipment, in the event you’re affected by load shedding, it’s recommended you enact your back-up plan or go to the nearest hospital to ensure your safety. 
 
When load shedding is necessary, distributors usually ‘share the load’ by scheduling blackouts that ‘roll’ across various suburbs or points of the grid to minimise the impact on one specific area.  

Will my power be turned off?

If load shedding is enacted and you’ll be affected, you may receive an SMS alert from your local distributor. We recommend checking their website to see whether they have an SMS alert service you can sign up for, as well as making sure your contact details are up to date on your Origin account. 
 
Your local distributor is your best point of contact in an outage, our distributor directory can help you find yours. Distributors generally update their websites regularly, so these are a great first-point for updates. 
 
Distributors can’t exclude individual households from load shedding, so if you have medical equipment at home which requires electricity to operate, it’s important to act on your back-up plan which should include suitable alternative arrangements for the times you are without power. 

If you experience a medical emergency dial Triple Zero (000) immediately and ask for an ambulance. 

How long will I lose power for?

The amount of time power will be off for varies depending on the situation. If load shedding is required – which can happen with very short notice for the distributors – for more than two hours, distributors may rotate the blackouts to lessen the impact on one specific group of customers.  

Distributors usually update outage maps on their websites to advise restoration times, so it’s best to keep an eye on these to ensure you receive updates. 

How do they select which areas to load shed?

No one suburb or area is specifically selected for load shedding. Instead, distributors usually spread the disruption across their network. As mentioned earlier, best endeavours are made to avoid interrupting sensitive loads like major hospitals and public transport where the loss of power presents a serious risk to public safety.

What do I do if I’m affected?

On particularly hot days, when there’s a publicised threat to energy security, to try and help avoid load shedding households should turn off non-essential appliances such as pool pumps, clothes dryers, washing machines and dishwashers or delay their usage until later in the evening when demand has died down. If using the air conditioner, set your temperature to 24°C, keep windows closed and close curtains/blinds to keep the sun out. It’s also important to keep yourself, and your pets, well hydrated.

The post What is load shedding? appeared first on The Origin Blog.

How to switch energy providers

Switching energy providers has never been easier, in fact, you can make the switch online in less than 5 minutes and we’ll take care of everything else. Simply compare our electricity and gas plans, choose the plan most beneficial for your household, sign up and we’ll get it sorted.

Switching energy providers won’t interrupt your power supply and you won’t need to contact your old energy supplier to make the switch.

If you’re switching energy suppliers in the process of moving houses you will need to contact your old supplier. Read our moving house guide for more information or book your move online.

What next?

After you’ve followed our simple sign up process, we’ll let you know when your energy supply has been switched over to us.

If you’ve switched to Origin at your current address, that’s it! There’s nothing left for you to do. We’ll get in contact with your previous energy provider and let them know so they can send you your final bill. Your energy supply won’t be interrupted throughout the process.

As mentioned, if you’ve switched over while moving house, you will need to contact your old energy provider and let them know you’ve moved out of your previous property. They will disconnect your old property and send you a final bill.

Once you have an account set up with us, you can head over to the My Account page and register. Through My Account you can see your plan, check usage charges, pay your bills and so much more.

Once you’re an Origin customer you can also manage your energy 24/7 with the ease and convenience of our award-winning mobile app. Monitor your energy usage, pay bills with just one tap and a range of other features we’re continuously adding to and improving on.

Why choose Origin?

Easy-to-understand plans and pricing

With no hidden fees or lock in contracts you can move with confidence. What’s more, you can sign up to Origin in less the 5 minutes online and we’ll take care of the rest. If you have questions about our plans, you can also reach out to a friendly member of our team who will be happy to help.

Bundle and save

Save money on broadband when you have electricity or natural gas with us. Whether you’re an electricity and gas customer or want to be, it gets better for you. Simplify your providers and save money just by bundling your internet and energy with us.

Our customers want flexibility and simplicity and our range of broadband plans are designed with that in mind. Easy-to-understand plans and pricing extends to our broadband plans too with the added choice of unlimited data on our 12 month, 24 month and month-to-month plans. Take a look for yourself and compare our internet plans today.

We’re working to make energy cleaner

We’ve been a leader in renewable energy for over 15 years. In fact we’ve put over a million solar panels on rooftops across Australia, more than any other electricity and gas retailer in Australia.

We want to get energy right for our customers, our community and our planet which is why we’re giving it all we can to make energy more affordable, cleaner, smarter and easier. We like to call it good energy, and we’d love you to be a part of it.

The post Switching your energy to Origin is easy appeared first on The Origin Blog.

It all starts with atoms

Atoms are small particles and put simply, they are the basic building blocks of everything around us, whether it is our chairs, desks or even our own body. Atoms are made up of even smaller elements, called protons, electrons and neutrons. When electrical and magnetic forces move electrons from one atom to another, an electrical current is formed. 

Take a look at this video to see electrons in action.

How is electricity made?

Firstly, to generate electricity, you’ll require a fuel source, such as coal, gas, hydropower or wind. In Australia, most of our electricity supply is generated from traditional fuels, such as coal and natural gas, with around 14% coming from renewable energy sources.¹ 

Regardless of the chosen fuel, most generators operate on the same proven principle: turn a turbine so that it spins magnets surrounded by copper wire, to get the flow of electrons across atoms, which in turn generates electricity.

Coal and gas work in similar ways; they are both burned to heat water, which creates steam and turns the turbine. 

Renewable energy sources such as hydropower and wind operate slightly differently, with either the water or the wind being used to turn the turbine, and generate the electricity.

Solar photovoltaic panels take a different approach again: they generate electrical power by converting solar radiation into electricity using semi-conductors.

Power stations convert fuels into electricity

Electricity goes out via the grid

In Australia, we get our electricity via a sophisticated networked grid. Electricity leaves generators and travels along conductor wires on the networked grid to homes and businesses across the country. By the time electricity reaches you, it’s likely to have travelled hundreds of kilometres through the grid.

Australia’s National Electricity Market or the NEM is the largest interconnected power system in the world.

Interested in how you use energy at home? If you have a digital smart meter, you can track your usage through My Account or via the Origin app.

The post What is electricity? appeared first on The Origin Blog.

We understand our customers expect smarter and easier digital experiences when it comes to their energy. That’s why we’re working hard to move more paper-based processes into the digital world. This means less writing, scanning and emailing for you and more time to get onto the more exciting things – like decorating your new place or buying that new piece of furniture you’ve been eyeing. We’re here to help when you’re ready to connect.

Building a new property soon?

Whether it’s your new house or a new office, you can now simply submit a request online to connect your electricity or natural gas and we’ll take care of the rest. Try out our New Connections digital form.

Moving into an existing property?

Connecting your energy should be a fast and easy process. Book online and complete your application in minutes. Lock in your move before 1 pm Monday to Friday and you can have your electricity connected the next business day.

Upcoming digital experiences

Soon you’ll be able to do even more things online:

• Change your electricity meter to add solar to your property or upgrade it for new equipment like pool heating or bigger air conditioners
• Remove your electricity meter to demolish a property and rebuild.

If you want to stay updated, check out our Meter & Installation section in the coming months and say goodbye to endless paperwork.

The post Connecting your new property has never been easier appeared first on The Origin Blog.

Nothing brings the household together quite like an unexpected electricity outage. While playing board games under candlelight can make for a fun experience, power faults are no joke.

An electricity power outage can occur without warning and can be stressful if you don’t know the proper steps to getting out of the dark. To make things easier, we’ve prepared some electricity outage information to help you know what to do when the power is out.

What are outages?

An electricity outage is described as a short or long-term loss of electric power in a certain area. Electricity faults are broken down in three different categories based on the duration and outcome of the outage:

Permanent fault

A substantial power shortage from a fault on a power line, with energy automatically restored once the fault is cleared.

Brownout

A temporary drop in voltage in an electrical power supply.

Blackout

The total loss of power to an area, which can last from minutes to weeks depending on the severity.

For power faults to be considered a major electricity outage, they must conform to three criteria:

1. The service provider cannot have planned the outage.
2. At least 1,000 people must be affected and it must last at least one hour
3. There must be at least 1,000,000 person-hours of disruption.

Globally, the biggest electricity outage in history occurred on the 31st of July, 2012, when 620 million people in India were without power until the next day. The electricity faults were due to three of the country’s five electricity grids failing, as they couldn’t meet the growing needs of the people.

In Australia, 170,000 homes lost electricity after Cyclone Yasi hit communities on the 3^rd of February, 2011 and caused widespread damage.

On a separate occasion, power was cut to 200,000 people in Victoria after bushfires caused the electricity connection to the national grid to shut down in 2007.

Five common causes of power outages

When looking at electricity outage information, there are some common themes for what causes electricity faults.

Weather – Australia’s weather can be a real problem when high winds or flying debris damage power lines or cause them to touch and short out.  Heavy rain and flooding can also damage electrical infrastructure.

Spikes – a temporary increase in the electrical supply voltage can result in a power outage. These are usually caused by lightning strikes, tripped circuit breakers or short circuits.

Vehicles – motoring accidents resulting in broken poles or causing power lines to touch, can lead to an outage. 

Bushfires – in a bushfire emergency, electricity supplies are often disconnected to ensure everyone’s safety.

Animals – different animals coming in contact with pieces of equipment, such as transformers and fuses, can cause it to shut down. This happened when a six-foot snake got zapped after slithering into a Gadsen electrical substation, causing a two hour outage.

What to do if there’s a power outage

When the power goes out, it might be your first instinct to call your retailer. While your retailer sells the electricity to homes and businesses across the country, they are purchasing it from wholesale electricity distributors. These local distributors own and operate the poles, wires and meters so they should be your first port of call.

While your retailer can assist by putting you in contact with the right people to get your power back up and running, they cannot do as much as distributors. Your distributor will have the ability to send someone to examine if there is a supply issue or fault.

Alternatively, during an outage they can provide you with info on when power should return. 

If the outage is widespread, the phone lines could be busy with many people calling for information. In this case, distributors will often have a pre-recorded message offering the most up-to-date information. To find your local distributor, you can use our search tool. More information on who to call during an emergency situation can be found here. 

While Origin manages your energy account, it’s your distributor who gets electricity flowing to your door.

The post What causes power outages appeared first on The Origin Blog.

“To me, good energy is energy you can rely on,” said Conway, whose role as Plant Technician at Quarantine Power Station is diverse, ranging from general plant operations to coordinating major plant shutdowns for important maintenance activities. “I do pretty much everything to keep the plant highly reliable,” he said.

His job includes repairing and maintaining the five gas-driven turbines at the heart of the Quarantine Power Station. The four smaller turbines are 25 MW units, each the length of a B-double truck. “Our large 125 MW unit is about 20 to 30 metres high, with a footprint of at least 600 plus square metres. It’s pretty big.”

Because the power station is a peaking plant, only running during periods of high demand to help maintain a reliable supply of energy to the market, it’s essential that it’s ready to produce power as soon as it’s required.

“Most of the planning and maintenance work gets done when the plant isn’t operating,” said Conway. “We are always planning work well in advance and are constantly looking at how we can improve or expand our plant. I’m really proud of the part we have played at Quarantine to help Origin’s total power generation fleet achieve really high reliability – especially through the critical summer months when our stations are needed most,” he said.

The post Conway Blacker, keeping the lights on appeared first on The Origin Blog.

What is the NEM?

Established in 1998, it covers 4,500 kilometres, five state-based networks and six cross-border interconnectors, across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory. In fact, the NEM is responsible for around 80 per cent of Australia’s electricity consumption. Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory are excluded from the network.

The NEM uses 40,000 km of transmission lines and cables to generate just under 200 terawatt hours of electricity annually for almost 10 million Australian homes and businesses.

The total value of electricity traded in the NEM in 2014-2015 was $8.2 billion.

The electricity that is produced is then distributed from electricity suppliers to a broad range of parties, approximately:  26% to commercial and services, 25% to residential users, 24% to manufacturing, 13% to electricity gas and water services, 2% to transport and 1% to agriculture. 

Why do we have the NEM?

Electricity cannot be easily stored, so it’s crucial that sufficient electricity generation is always available to meet demand. For example, whenever you switch on a light or turn on the TV, you expect there to be enough power available for it to work immediately.

The aim of the NEM is to make sure electricity is available when it’s needed, in a cost effective and reliable way.

Who takes part in the NEM?

There are three primary participants in the National Electricity Market.

1.       Generators: currently 336 generators are responsible for producing the electricity for sale on the NEM, with the main source coming from renewable power stations and the burning of fossil fuels.

2.       Retailers: A number of retailers purchase electricity from the generators, who are the wholesale electricity providers. These retailers then sell the electricity to homes and businesses. These are energy providers like Origin Energy who provide you with your energy needs.

3.       A government established Australian Energy Market Operator is tasked with overseeing the process.

How does the NEM work?

Technically the NEM is responsible for dispatching electricity to meet demand, but the term is often used more broadly to include the financial market and the physical grid that sit alongside it.

These three elements work together in the following way:

1.       Wholesale market – where generators sell electricity and retailers buy it to on-sell to you the consumer. There are lots of generators and retailers participating, so it’s highly competitive and an efficient way of ensuring electricity prices remain competitive.

2.       Financial market – sits alongside the wholesale market and involves retailers and generators entering into hedging contracts to buy and sell electricity. These contracts set an agreed price for the electricity and help to manage the risk of price volatility.

3.       The physical grid – the transmission and distribution networks that deliver electricity from power stations to homes and businesses anywhere in the system.

The post What is the National Electricity Market? appeared first on The Origin Blog.

What is ‘the grid’?

‘The grid’ is how we refer to the complex transmission and distribution network that carries electricity from power stations across Australia to your home or business. A basic overview of how the grid works is shown in points 1 – 6 below. 

Australia’s eastern and southern states have one of the largest interconnected ‘grids’ or power systems in the world, spanning 4,500 kilometres. This grid services Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. The wholesale market for electricity supplied via this grid is managed through the National Electricity Market (NEM).

In Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Mount Isa in Queensland the transmission and distribution networks operate separately from the NEM and from each other.

How energy gets to your home

The role of transmission and distribution networks

1

Power station

Power stations generate electricity. the stations themselves are huge, and are usually located near energy sources such as coal mines, natural gas production plants, or hydro-electric plants. Once generated, the electricity needs to be delivered to where most of its end users are located, which tends to be in cities and major towns – this is where the grid comes in. Steps 2 – 6. 

2

Substation transformer

The first substation transformer raises the voltage of the electricity so it can be transported efficienly through the transmission networks to smaller distribution networks (commonly knows as the poles and wires system).

3

Transmission networks

Transmission networks move the electricity from the power stations to the distribution networks so it can be passed into your home or business. The electricity is transmitted at high voltages so that large amounts can travel efficiently over long distances.

4

Substation transformer¹

Lowers the voltage of the electricity ready to deliver for everyday use. When the electricity reaches the distribution networks, it passes through substations, which use transformers to lower the voltage of the electricity ready to deliver for everyday use.

5

Distribution powerlines

Carry electricity to its final destination, such as your home or business. Powerlines are often visible along the sides of roads, and sometimes they’re underground.

6

Home and businesses

Electricity is used by most of us everyday. We charge our phones, power or appliances, lighting and heating. Every building that uses electricity has a meter for measuring consumption and a switchboard for dividing the electricity up into circuits for each area of the building.

“The 209km transmission line between Victoria and Tasmania is one of the longest submarine power cables in the world.”

Electricity meters and circuits in your home or business

Every building that uses electricity has a meter for measuring consumption and a switchboard for dividing the electricity up into circuits for each area of the building.

A circuit is a closed path that an electric current flows through to perform a function, such as making a light work or powering a motor. Wires inside the walls carry the electricity from the circuit to outlets and switches throughout the building.

Circuit breakers or fuses protect circuits from overloading. Circuit breakers act like a switch that automatically turns off the circuit when too much electricity flows through it. Fuses do a similar job, but they contain wires that melt in order to break the circuit. 

The post How stuff works: the electricity grid appeared first on The Origin Blog.