Melburnians left in the dark again after third major outage in recent weeks

FIRST WITH NEIL MITCHELL

More than 20,000 homes and businesses in Melbourne’s south-east were left without power overnight after the third mass outage in Victoria in recent weeks.

After receiving a tip, Neil Mitchell was inundated with callers advising people had lost power in suburbs including Spotswood, Eltham, Wantirna South, Knoxfield, Templestowe, Montmorency.

Ausnet then confirmed approximately 24,000 customers were without power during the night, claiming most lost power about 11.45pm and were restored just after 1am.

“I think there’s a big con going on here,” Neil said.

“They are the new banks, the power companies.

“They won’t talk to me today.”

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“They’re giving with one hand and taking with the other,” Neil said.

Energy expert Gavin Duffy, manager of Policy and Research at St Vincent de Paul Society, told Neil customers who suffered outages last month can apply for more compensation on top of the $80-$180 offered by the government.

“They can go back and say well, the 80 bucks that’s nice but it’s not going to replace my fridge and my freezer, so people should be aware of that as well,” he said.

Click PLAY below to hear the interview with Gavin