‘Momentary power outage’ confirmed by Powercor

By Owen Sinclair

Oct 16, 2024

Cobram residents reported hearing an explosion. Photo by Daneka Hill

Powercor has confirmed that a “momentary outage” affected 1297 customers in Cobram around 5.44am on Friday, October 11.

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The service provider said the outage was caused when an automatic circuit recloser was activated during a fault in power transmission.

The ACR reconnected the power once the fault was cleared, Powercor said.

Powercor said such momentary outages could be caused by anything from wildlife to a piece of falling bark from a tree.

Witnesses observing the aurora australis in Cobram last Friday reported hearing an explosion.

Cobram local and administrator of the Cobram 3644+ Facebook group Fred Mustica said he heard a loud report before several alarms went off around 5.44am on Friday.

“It was like a buzz, and then a bit of a pop. And then my front lights came on and off,” he said.

According to the Federal Government’s Climate Service website, space weather such as that which resulted in last week’s aurora australis may also cause damaging electric currents across an electricity network.

As a result of such currents, the website says, transformers may be damaged.