More than 1000 people from communities throughout the Strathbogie region have signed a petition calling on AusNet to upgrade infrastructure, which residents say have caused multiple power outages.
While some of those outages have been attributed to extreme wet weather in the region, Euroa resident Kristy Hourigan said many have had no explanation as to why they occurred.
"I emailed AusNet and I didn't get a response and then I emailed their CEO directly and got a response really that was substandard saying they were aware there were power outages and happy to reimburse people," she said.
Ms Hourigan said the community is forgiving when power goes out after a storm, but it was unacceptable the region had experienced 17 outages since early November last year, by her count.
She said the regular outages has meant significant financial losses for local businesses including the Euroa Caravan Park, which she owns.
"It's not just affecting the residents or having the convenience of watching a TV," she said.
"We've heard stories of fridges completely dying after outages, because it keeps switching on and off and food being spoiled."
"I just think the infrastructure on our region needs an upgrade"
Ms Hourigan said the petition, which currently has nearly 1200 signatures, was aiming to bring awareness to how regular power outages for the growing region.
She said Euroa was "a forgotten region" and was frustrated by inaction on the outages or upgrading infrastructure.
In a statement an AusNet spokewoman apologised "to the communities served by this line, including Strathbogie, for the number and duration of power outages recently experienced,"
"We know this is frustrating for them and is having a significant impact and we are working hard to remedy the situation."
The spokeswoman said there were only nine sustained widespread unplanned interruptions between 8 November 2023 and 16 January 2024 to Euroa, Violet Town and surrounding areas.
Electricity reliability had also recently declined on their Benalla to Euroa feeder line, "with a step change increase in the average duration and area (number of customers) impacted for each outage".
"While some of these outages were initiated by extreme weather including storms, they have also been influenced by the recent commissioning of new bushfire risk reduction technology, Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiters (REFCL) at Benalla and Violet Town in September 2023," she said.
The spokeswoman said REFCLs were a critical technology to reduce the risk of fire in severe conditions but they make the network more sensitive to faults and it can take longer to restore them
"There are a number of reasons for this including reduced visibility of fault locations and safety requirements to physically inspect the line before power can be switched back on," she said.
"The impact is more prominent on long radial (single pathway) powerlines such as Benalla to Euroa, which is a the longest in Victoria (1,206km) and has no alternative path for power supply."
AusNet had identified some immediate term measures to improve reliability on the line, but will also investigate longer-term solutions in the region.
"Over the weekend AusNet adjusted the settings on our equipment to manage the sensitivities of our bushfire risk reduction technology, which we will reinstate on days with fire ratings of high or above," the spokeswoman said.
Hay contractor and sheep farmer Andrew Walter, Violet Town said he had regularly experienced outages and his staff had found it frustrating.
"It certainly does upset our operations in the workshop, and when they can't work there, they go out and work in the paddocks and do something else other than welding or grinding."
"I don't think Violet Town has been that bad compared to other nearby areas in the state, from what I can ascertain though."
He said he also "sympathised with electricity providers", as they had to oversee a large network and while outages have been an inconvenience, other regions were much more worse off than his area.
"If we're talking about North Queensland, where people recently haven't had power for three weeks, I'd say that would be incredibly inconvenient for farms up there," he said.
"I've got business interests in Western Australia and they've recently had a big storm go through the Wheatbelt with some areas that haven't had power there for a week too.
"I sympathise and empathise with those people who had no power for days on end there."
