[quote]Victorians transitioning from gas exacerbates growing problem of undervoltage

Marie Slako moved into her Northcote [Melbourne] home two years ago, attracted to the property for its rooftop solar and partial conversion to electricity-powered heating and appliances.

“I’d like to get off fossil fuels,” Ms Slako, who previously worked for energy distributor AusNet, said. “And also gas is really expensive. The winter price, it hurts.”

But shortly after moving in, problems started.

First, Ms Slako noticed she could only use one hotplate at a time on her induction cooktop. Then she found the microwave would not heat food at dinnertime, but would burn everything at other times.

This month, she discovered her split system would not heat the house.

…

Induction cooktops were not working. EV chargers were disconnecting, leaving cars without battery. Heaters were struggling to push out hot air.

…

Undervoltage issues were occurring primarily in older areas of the network, such as inner city and older suburban Melbourne, and older urban areas of Ballarat, Geelong and Bendigo.

....

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-22/victoria-undervoltage-melbourne-gas-electricity/106588882

Old infrastructure just can't cope. ::)

I know Melbourne in Winter  -
nothing compares to a gas heater in my living room.
I wouldn't be without mine.
Even on one bar out of 3 it heats the place up just nicely -
electric heaters cannot compare to the power of it.

I remember one place I rented for a short time in Winter -
while I was searching for a place to buy -
it had a reverse cycle aircon to heat the place up.
On cold winter nights it would switch itself off inside.
I'd go outside and see the condenser had turned into a block of ice -
which was detected as a failure so just the outside fan would keep going
trying to melt the ice but it couldn't do it - even for hours.

It wasn't a faulty unit -
reverse cycle aircons can't work when the temp goes below 4 degrees C outside.
They even struggle when it's 6 to 8 degrees outside.

https://i.postimg.cc/bwjZvB4V/Friday-Funny-Net-Zero-Hits-the-Fan.png

Actually about the UK, but fits.