New connections

Who are we?

Endeavour Energy is responsible for the safe and reliable supply of electricity to 2.7 million people in households and businesses across Sydney’s Greater West, Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands the Illawarra and the South Coast. We have an ongoing commitment to safely supply electricity within the Endeavour Energy network, which is our reason for contacting you today.

Upgrading electricity equipment to support growth and development

We’re focused on providing reliable electricity supply and we continue to invest in the upgrade of electricity infrastructure, leveraging the latest technology to build a more resilient network.

At any given time, we will be working on multiple projects in conjunction with our Accredited Service Provider (ASP) partners. These include moving, removing or installing overhead electrical parts like poles and streetlight columns. We're also putting in new underground pipes for electrical cables, setting up new customer connection points (those small green boxes you see around), and installing new equipment to provide power to new customers (those large green boxes).

There are a few reasons why we're doing all this. One is to connect new customers in the area to electricity. This is the same kind of work that was done when the existing residents were first connected. We also need to move some electrical parts around so they work better with road improvement projects delivered by your local Council and Transport for NSW. Plus, this work is helping to enable big public infrastructure projects like the Sydney Metro and Parramatta light rail.

So, you might be thinking, "What's in it for me?" Well, there are a lot of benefits for customers. These projects are often needed to support growing communities. This could mean more housing in the area as land is divided up for development, increasing the demand for property. It can also lead to the creation of more jobs as new commercial and industrial facilities like warehouses, office buildings, and mining sites get connected to the power grid.

And let's not forget about the services we all rely on. Supermarkets, shopping centres, medical centres, hospitals, leisure centres, and public transport projects can all benefit from these improvements, making life in the area even better for everyone.

We apologise in advance for the interruption to your power supply whilst we complete our electrical works. We understand the importance of having ongoing power supply and as a result we will undertake all work quickly and safely to restore power as indicated.

Important considerations during outages

  • If you’re a life support customer please activate your back-up plan immediately. If you are not currently registered for life support and require power for the use of medical devices please call 131 003 to commence the registration process.
  • Some of the trucks used to repair electricity infrastructure are large and we may be forced to park across driveways to enable safe access to complete the work required. Talk to our crew when they arrive onsite if you need access to your vehicle and/or home, and they will work with you to find a suitable time.
  • Should there be adverse weather, the job may be rescheduled to another date – we know this is difficult where customers have made alternative arrangements, however our crews are unable to work on live wires during heavy rain or very strong winds.
  • In rural areas, access to private property might be required for repairs, safety inspections or switching activities. Please allow our staff access - your power supply may not be interrupted but access to a pole on your property may be required to restore supply to others.
  • If you have biodiversity risk associated with your property please let us know by calling 131 003.

What to expect when our team is onsite

If the work requires an overhead powerline upgrade, it usually takes us about a day to finish the work. For safety reasons, we must turn off the power to the poles and wires we're working on. We might also need to deliver the new pole a few days before we start the work. Don't worry, we'll put it in a safe place on the footpath or nature strip and mark it clearly.

On the day of the upgrade, you'll see several team members and several trucks from Endeavour Energy. We'll also have 1-2 elevated platforms for our team to work at height, and a crane borer digging holes to install power poles. Please be aware that this could affect traffic and might even require us to close some narrow streets. After we finish, we might leave old poles onsite because we need a special vehicle to remove them. We'll be back to collect them within 3-5 business days.

Example of what you may see during overhead powerline work.

If we're working with underground cables, you'll see more digging. Replacing these cables usually takes 4-6 weeks, depending on the weather, but your power should only be off for 1 day during this time. We do the work in stages, with each part needing to be finished before we can start the next.

Here's what you can expect if we're replacing underground cables:

  1. We'll dig trenches using small excavators to access and install new conduits (pipes) and expose the existing cables.
  1. We'll install temporary fencing or fill the trenches with sand temporarily to keep everyone safe.
  1. We'll remove the old cables and replace them with new ones. We might also need to install new pillars to connect individual buildings to the network.
  1. We'll need to interrupt your power supply to connect your property to the new cables. We'll let you know when this is happening.
  1. Once you're connected to the new cables, we'll remove and dispose of any old, unnecessary pillars.
  1. Finally, we'll clean up and restore the area to how it was before we started. This could involve laying new turf or footpaths, depending on what your local council wants.

During this work, you'll see our teams, trucks, and equipment. There might be some noise and dust, but we'll do our best to keep it to a minimum. We might need to store some equipment on footpaths and nature strips before we install it, and our work might limit access to street parking and footpaths. We'll always try to keep your driveway accessible unless we've arranged something different with you. Sometimes we might need to control traffic to keep everyone safe. If we're working right in front of your property, please think about where you put your bins so your garbage service isn't disrupted.

Example of what you may see during underground cable work.

Why now?

The scheduling of these works often takes place months ahead, so we can't predict the weather conditions on the day of the job. While we typically aim to carry out tasks during regular working hours, some factors may necessitate night or weekend work. This could be to minimize disruption to businesses, to avoid affecting sensitive areas like schools, or to manage traffic as per the requirements of Transport for NSW.

We adhere to specific guidelines about the type of work that can be performed during extreme weather, and these tasks comply with those rules. A significant amount of planning and coordination is involved to ensure safe access to the network. Therefore, last-minute rescheduling is not an easy task and could considerably delay the project. Hence, even on hot or cold days that are within our guidelines, the work must go ahead as planned to prevent significant setbacks and to maintain our service quality.