Energy companies have been warned by Premier Daniel Andrews that they must make compensation payments "over and above their obligations" to thousands of customers who lost power during a stifling heatwave last month.
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The warning comes after almost 7000 homes across Melbourne again lost power on Wednesday as the temperature soared into the high 30s, and stayed warm overnight.
On January 28 and 29 a power outage left about 90,000 households without electricity as the demand surged in sustained hot weather and fuses blew at local substations.
More than 180 Wendouree houses and businesses went without power on January 30.
In Parliament on Thursday, Mr Andrews said he had met with the energy distributors on Monday and made it clear they needed to "provide support to all affected customers".
In Question Time, opposition energy spokesman David Southwick pressed the government on how much compensation households and businesses affected by outages on January 28 and 29 would receive.
Mr Andrews said he expected energy businesses would make payments "over and above their obligations".
"Very, very profitable businesses should support customers who are impacted by unacceptable local outages," he said.
"Those businesses will pay and give support to every affected customer."
He said the energy distribution companies should fix the localised faults that resulted in the outages.
The Premier told Parliament there were also existing policies in place for "in essence insurance claims" that should be honoured.
He flagged there would be further announcements "in due course".
On Wednesday night, households in Aspendale, Coburg, Strathmore, Caroline Springs, Sandringham, Brighton, Bentleigh and other suburbs were among those that lost power.
However, by Thursday morning power had been restored to most of those homes.
This story 'They will pay': Daniel Andrews says he's told suppliers to cough up for power cuts first appeared on The Age.
