Outages

An outage is one interruption to supply as one network published it: a fault, or a piece of planned work. Every network's outages come back as the same object.

200GET /v1/outages/175137

{
  "data": {
    "id": 175137,
    "network": {
      "id": "citipower-powercor",
      "name": "CitiPower / Powercor",
      "brand": "Powercor"
    },
    "utility": "electricity",
    "state": "vic",
    "type": "unplanned",
    "status": "active",
    "status_detail": "Outage Reported",
    "cause": {
      "category": "unspecified",
      "description": "Under investigation"
    },
    "customers_affected": 1,
    "customers_off_now": 1,
    "starts_at": "2026-10-20T01:47:00.000Z",
    "estimated_restoration_at": "2026-10-20T04:00:00.000Z",
    "restored_at": null,
    "restored_at_basis": null,
    "duration_minutes": null,
    "first_seen_at": "2026-10-20T01:49:45.192Z",
    "last_seen_at": "2026-10-20T02:21:59.454Z",
    "updated_at": "2026-10-20T01:49:45.192Z",
    "location": {
      "kind": "area",
      "approximate": false,
      "centroid": {
        "lat": -35.055623,
        "lng": 143.309348
      },
      "localities": [
        {
          "name": "Piangil",
          "postcode": "3597",
          "customers": 1
        }
      ]
    },
    "source": {
      "reference": "2401242-1"
    },
    "geometry": {
      "type": "Polygon",
      "coordinates": [
        [
          [
            143.309348,
            -35.056053
          ],
          [
            143.309395,
            -35.056051
          ],
          [
            143.309443,
            -35.056046
          ],
          [
            143.30949,
            -35.056037
          ],
          [
            143.309348,
            -35.056053
          ]
        ]
      ]
    },
    "suburbs": [
      {
        "id": 6822,
        "name": "Piangil",
        "postcode": "3597",
        "state": "vic",
        "url": "https://aussieoutagetracker.com.au/locations/vic/power/piangil-3597/"
      }
    ]
  },
  "meta": {
    "data_as_of": "2026-10-20T02:28:26.234Z"
  }
}

A real response, captured from the API. Arrays are shortened to two items.

Three rules hold for every field:

null means the network did not publish it. Never 0, never an empty string, never a guess. A network that publishes no customer counts has customers_affected: null on every outage.
Instants are ISO 8601 in UTC, such as 2026-10-20T04:00:00.000Z. Convert to local time yourself; the outage's state tells you which zone it is in.
The network's own words are kept beside ours. Where we normalise — a status, a cause — the original text sits next to it, verbatim, so you can always see what the network said.

Identity

Field	Means
`id`	Aussie Outage Tracker's id. An integer, stable for the outage's whole life. Use it to fetch, store and de-duplicate.
`network.id`	The network, such as `ausnet`. The value for `network=` filters and GET`/v1/networks/{id}`.
`network.name`	Its name, such as `AusNet Services`.
`network.brand`	A sub-brand where one feed covers two networks: `Powercor` or `CitiPower` within `citipower-powercor`. Otherwise `null`.
`utility`	`electricity`. Water, gas and telecommunications are reserved for when they are published.
`state`	The state or territory the outage is in, lower case. Taken from its location, so an Essential Energy outage over the Queensland border is `qld`, not `nsw`.

Lifecycle

Field	Means
`type`	`planned` work or an `unplanned` fault.
`status`	One of five: `scheduled`, `active`, `restored`, `cancelled`, `unknown`. See Statuses.
`status_detail`	The network's own status words, verbatim — `Outage Reported`, `SCHEDULED\|In Progress`. `null` where it publishes none.

Cause

Field	Means
`cause.category`	One cause vocabulary across every network: `weather`, `vegetation`, `animal` and the rest. Planned work is always `planned_work`. `null` where the network published no cause text at all. See Causes.
`cause.description`	The network's own words, verbatim.

Customers

Field	Means
`customers_affected`	How many customers the outage affected over its life: the highest count the network reported, or the sum across its localities, whichever is larger.
`customers_off_now`	How many are off supply at the latest observation, while `active`. `null` once the outage is closed.

The two differ on purpose. A fault that took out 1,200 customers and has been partly restored has customers_affected: 1200 and perhaps customers_off_now: 85. Sum customers_off_now for "off right now"; use customers_affected for the size of an outage, and for totals over time.

Networks count customers — connection points, roughly premises — not people.

Times

Field	Means
`starts_at`	When the outage began, or is scheduled to, as the network reported it. `null` for networks that publish no start time.
`estimated_restoration_at`	The network's latest estimate of restoration, or the scheduled finish of planned work. `null` when it gave none. It moves: history records each value.
`restored_at`	When supply came back. Set only on a `restored` outage.
`restored_at_basis`	How `restored_at` is known — see below.
`duration_minutes`	`starts_at` to `restored_at`, where both are known. Otherwise `null`, and never negative.
`first_seen_at`	When Aussie Outage Tracker first recorded the outage.
`last_seen_at`	The latest poll in which the network still published it.
`updated_at`	The last time this record changed. What `changed_since` compares against.

`restored_at_basis`: reported or observed

reported — the network published the restoration time, and restored_at is the network's.
observed — the network did not. Many feeds simply drop an outage once it is fixed, and say nothing about when. restored_at is then when the outage left the network's feed, which is accurate to the few minutes between polls and can be later than the real restoration if a network is slow to take it down.

null until the outage is restored. A cancelled outage was never restored, so it has neither.

When a network publishes no start

Where starts_at is null, the from, to and active_at filters use first_seen_at instead — when we first saw it, which is within minutes of it appearing in the network's feed. duration_minutes stays null rather than being computed from a time the network did not give.

Location

Field	Means
`location.kind`	`area` — the network published a footprint. `point` — a single location only. `null` — no location at all.
`location.approximate`	`true` for a point. A point is approximate: it marks roughly where the outage is, never its edge.
`location.centroid`	A point inside the area, or the published point. `{ lat, lng }`.
`location.localities`	The places the network listed as affected, each with `name`, `postcode` and `customers` — any of which may be `null` where the network does not give them. Empty where it lists none.
`geometry`	The outage's GeoJSON shape (WGS 84, `[lng, lat]`): a `Polygon` or `MultiPolygon` for an area, a `Point` or `MultiPoint` otherwise. On GET`/v1/outages/{id}`, and on lists only with `include=geometry`.
`suburbs`	On GET`/v1/outages/{id}` only: every suburb the outage is attributed to. See Places and attribution.

Points are not areas

Some networks publish only a point for each outage. Draw it as a marker, never as a circle of a guessed radius, and say it is approximate. Networks and coverage lists which networks publish which.

Source

Field	Means
`source.reference`	The network's own reference for the outage — its job or incident number. Quote it when you contact the network.