Storm Damage Triage: What's Ausgrid's Problem, What's Yours, and What Your Insurer Covers

Who is responsible for fixing electrical storm damage at your Sydney property? It splits three ways. Your network operator (Ausgrid or Endeavour Energy) repairs its own poles, street wires and the service line to your point of attachment. Everything past that point, including private power poles, consumer mains and your switchboard, is yours to repair using a Level 2 electrician, and your home insurance often covers the cost. Knowing the split before the storm saves you days of phone tag afterwards.

⚡ Quick Answers: storm damage responsibility

• Powerlines down in the street? That is the network's asset. Stay at least 8 metres away and call Ausgrid on 13 13 88 or Endeavour Energy on 131 003.
• Service line ripped off your roof? The repair to your point of attachment and consumer mains is private work, and it needs a Level 2 ASP, not a standard electrician.
• Private power pole leaning or down? That pole is the property owner's responsibility, even though it carries network power.
• Will insurance pay? Storm damage to your home's electrical installation is commonly covered, but insurers want a make safe report and a clear cause of damage.
• Who do I call first? If anything is live, sparking or fallen: 000 for life-threatening danger, then your network, then a Level 2 electrician for the private repairs.

1. The network's side: poles, street wires and the service line

Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy own the transformers, street poles and the wires running along your street. When a tree drops a powerline or a whole block goes dark, that is their repair, at their cost, on their schedule.

The overhead service line running from the street to your house is generally the network's to maintain up to the point of attachment, the bracket where it lands on your building. If you are not sure which network covers your address, check your network area in seconds with our postcode checker, then save the right emergency number: Ausgrid 13 13 88, Endeavour Energy 131 003.

2. Your side: point of attachment, consumer mains, switchboard

From the point of attachment onwards, the installation belongs to the property owner. That includes the bracket itself, the consumer mains running down to your meter, your switchboard, and every circuit inside. If wind tears the point of attachment out of your fascia or a branch takes down your consumer mains, the network will make the area safe and disconnect you, but they will not rebuild your side.

Because this work sits on the supply side of your installation, it is legally Level 2 ASP work. A standard electrician cannot reconnect you. Our guide to the point of attachment and service fuse explains where the boundary sits in more detail.

3. Private power poles: yours, even in the storm

If your property has a private power pole, that pole and the mains on it are the owner's responsibility. Networks inspect them from time to time and will defect a rotten or leaning pole, but replacement after storm damage is a private job. Read more on vegetation clearance responsibility if trees around lines are the recurring problem.

4. The insurer's side: paying for it

Home insurance policies commonly cover storm damage to the electrical installation, including storm damage repairs, damaged switchboards and sometimes private pole replacement. Insurers usually want three things: evidence the damage was storm caused, a make safe report showing the property was secured promptly, and an itemised repair quote. An emergency make safe visit produces exactly that paperwork, which is why calling a Level 2 electrician early protects both your safety and your claim.

Power surge damage to appliances when the network fault caused it is a separate path: networks run their own compensation claim processes, and your electrician's report on the cause strengthens that claim too.

5. The order of calls when damage hits

• Life-threatening danger, fire or a person injured: 000 first, always.
• Fallen wires or network damage: Ausgrid 13 13 88 or Endeavour Energy 131 003. Treat every fallen line as live.
• Damage on your side: a Level 2 electrician for make safe, repair and reconnection.
• Then your insurer: lodge the claim with the make safe report and photos.

Our emergency contacts guide is worth saving to your phone before the season starts.

How High Demand Electrical helps

We are a Sydney Level 2 ASP, which means we can legally work on the damaged section between the network and your switchboard that standard electricians cannot touch. After a storm we make safe first, document everything for your insurer, carry out the defect rectification or rebuild, and coordinate the reconnection with Ausgrid or Endeavour so you are not stuck as the go-between. We work storm events across both networks and know what each one needs before they will restore supply.

Storm Damage Responsibility FAQs (Sydney)

The network disconnected my house after the storm. Why won't they reconnect it?

Because the damage is on your side of the point of attachment. They will not re-energise until the private installation is repaired and certified safe by a Level 2 ASP. See our disconnect and reconnect services.

Does insurance cover a private power pole that blew over?

Often yes under storm damage cover, but policies differ. Insurers respond best to a prompt make safe report and an engineer grade replacement quote.

My neighbour's tree took out my service line. Who pays?

The repair still has to happen on your installation first. Cost recovery between neighbours and insurers comes afterwards, and your documented make safe report becomes the key evidence.

How fast can the repair happen?

Make safe is typically same day in a declared storm event. Full rebuild and reconnection depends on parts and network processing, which our guide to same day reconnection covers honestly.

Storm damage at your place? Get a storm damage repair quote or call 0402 559 777 for a 24/7 make safe response. Every job starts with a site assessment before scope and pricing are confirmed.