CANBERRA, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Australians who were affected by power blackout in January will be compensated by power companies, Victoria state's Energy Minister Lily D'Ambrosio said on Sunday.
Tens of thousands of Victorian households and businesses were left without power on January 28 as the state sweltered through the hottest night of the Australian summer.
The Victorian government said it was the greatest electricity demand ever recorded in Victoria on a Sunday, causing blown fuses and transformers on the network.
D'Ambrosio said those who lost power for 20 to 30 hours would receive a one-off payment of 140 U.S. dollars. Those who lost power for between 3 and 20 hours will receive 62 U.S. dollars.
"We know how frustrating this was for many Victorians -- affected customers deserve to be compensated for the inconvenience and we made sure that happened," D'Ambrosio said in a media release on Sunday.
"We've worked with the private power distribution companies to deliver this for thousands of customers affected by this extreme weather event.
"Network businesses will bear the full costs of this package and I'm pleased they've gone above and beyond the regulatory rules to support their customers."
The compensation will cost electricity network businesses 3.9 million U.S. dollars.
However, the Victorian Opposition said the payments were "insulting".
"(Victoria Premier) Daniel Andrews said that people would be fully compensated and this does not go far enough to properly do what he said he'd do," spokesman David Southwick said.
"Victorians are seeing unprecedented power prices, yet we don't have reliability of power supply.
"Daniel Andrews needs to guarantee the power supply. It is an essential service."
