What Causes a Power Surge, and What Actually Protects You
A surge is a sudden rise in voltage above what the supply is meant to deliver. It lasts a fraction of a second, which is long enough to take out a television, a fridge control board or every charger in the house.
Most articles on this stop at “get a surge protector”. The more useful questions are where the surge came from, whether anyone else is paying for the damage, and why the protection you already have may have quietly stopped working.
Where surges actually come from
Energex names the causes plainly: surges and spikes come from storms, lightning strikes, accidents, or simply switching an appliance on or off. Lightning is the most common of them.
That list contains something people miss. Two of those causes are outside your property and two are inside it, and they need different answers.
| Cause | Where it comes from | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| Lightning, direct or nearby | Outside | Switchboard protection, and unplugging in storms |
| Storm damage to the network | Outside | Switchboard protection |
| Accidents, such as a vehicle hitting a pole | Outside | Switchboard protection |
| Large appliances switching on and off | Inside | Point-of-use protection on sensitive gear |
| Everything restarting when supply returns | Boundary | Switching things off while the power is out |
The inside-the-house one surprises people. A motor starting, an air conditioner compressor cutting in, a pump kicking over: each one is a small disturbance on your own wiring. It is nothing like the magnitude of a lightning event, but it happens every day rather than a few times a season.
The part that costs people money: nobody else is paying
Read that against the causes table and the position is clear enough. Lightning is the most common cause of surges, and lightning damage is explicitly excluded. So the plan cannot be “the network will sort it out”. The plan is protection at your end, and insurance behind that.
If you do lodge a claim, Energex asks for the time, date and address of the event, information on the costs, and where possible reports from qualified repairers confirming the nature of the damage. They assess within 20 working days of receiving a completed form and supporting documents.
The three levels of protection, and what each one actually covers
Energex describes three, and the differences between them matter more than most people realise.
- Powerboards with surge protection. Plug into an existing point and protect what is plugged into them. Nothing else. Energex notes they may need to be replaced after a surge.
- Surge-protected power points. Replace the outlet itself, and must be installed by a licensed electrician. Same idea, tidier, still protects only what is connected there.
- Protection at the main switchboard. The important one, because Energex describes it as protecting appliances and wiring, not just the devices you remembered to plug in. Also professionally installed, and the modules must be replaced after an overload, or the protection is lost.
The wiring part is the distinction worth paying attention to. A power board defends a television. Switchboard-level protection stands between an incoming surge and the whole installation, including the parts inside the walls that you cannot replace on a weekend.
Fitting protection at the board is a switchboard job, and it’s worth doing at the same time as any other work there rather than as its own visit. Individual protected outlets fall under switch and outlet replacement.
Storm season habits that cost nothing
Energex’s own advice for storms is blunt and free: turn appliances off and unplug them, and disconnect the TV aerial. An unplugged appliance cannot be reached by a surge on the mains, which is a level of protection no device can match.
The same habit is worth keeping at the other end of an outage. Energex advises businesses to switch off water pumps and three phase motors while supply is out, and the reasoning holds in a house: turn the sensitive gear and the heavy motor loads off, then bring them back deliberately rather than having everything restart together.
How to tell a surge has already hurt you
Get it looked at if, after a storm or an outage
- Several appliances have failed at once, or in the same few days
- Anything smells hot, looks scorched, or has visible damage at a plug or outlet
- A circuit breaker or safety switch will not stay in
- Lights are flickering or dimming when they did not before
- A surge protection indicator light on a board or module has gone out or changed colour
Multiple failures at once is the signature. A single dead appliance is usually just a dead appliance, but three in a week after a big storm is a pattern worth investigating. Heat or burning smells are a different urgency again, and that’s covered in burning smell from a power point. Flickering that starts and does not stop belongs in why lights flicker, and a breaker that will not hold is in why a switchboard keeps tripping.
Where none of it is obvious, it’s a fault finding job. If it’s happening right now rather than after the fact, that’s an emergency electrician call, and what counts as an electrical emergency is the right triage for deciding.
One thing worth knowing before you call anyone
If you pay a licensed electrical contractor to investigate a supply problem and the fault turns out to be on the network rather than inside your property, Energex has a process to reimburse the contractor’s fee, capped, with the original paid invoice and a letter detailing the claim.
That’s worth knowing because it removes the usual hesitation. People sit with a problem wondering whether it’s theirs or the network’s, and the only way to answer that is to have someone qualified look. If it turns out to be Energex’s, there is a path to getting the call-out fee back.
Storm season on the Gold Coast
Summer here brings the storms that produce the surges. The variable worth knowing about your own place is whether your supply comes in overhead or underground, because an overhead run through mature trees is exposed to a great deal that a buried one is not. Look up at your own street and you will know in a few seconds. I cover the whole Gold Coast and SEQ for this, from the beachfront out through Nerang and Mudgeeraba.
Practical sequence: get protection at the board before storm season rather than during it, know whether your existing protection has already been used up, and keep unplugging things when a serious storm is coming. The last one is free and it is still the most effective.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common cause of a power surge?
Lightning. Energex identifies it as the most common cause of surges and spikes, alongside storms, accidents, and appliances switching on and off. That mix matters because it means surges arrive both from the network outside your property and from your own equipment inside it, and those two need different protection.
Will Energex pay for appliances damaged by a surge?
Usually not. Energex states it doesn’t accept responsibility for damage from natural disasters, storms or lightning, wildlife or vegetation contacting powerlines, vehicles hitting poles, or interruptions where the cause can’t be reliably determined. Since lightning is the most common cause of surges, their guidance is to direct your claim to your home and contents insurer first.
Is a surge protection power board enough?
It protects what’s plugged into it and nothing else. Energex describes switchboard-level protection as protecting appliances and wiring, which is the broader job. A power board is a sensible layer for a computer or a television, but it does nothing for the fridge, the oven, or the wiring in your walls.
Does surge protection wear out?
Yes, and this catches almost everyone. Energex notes that surge protection powerboards may need replacing after a surge, and that switchboard modules must be replaced after an overload or the protection is lost. These devices absorb energy to do their job and get consumed doing it. Protection installed years ago may no longer be protecting anything.
Can my own appliances cause surges?
Yes. Energex lists switching an appliance on or off among the causes. Motors and compressors, so air conditioners, pumps and similar, create disturbances on your own wiring every time they start and stop. Individually far smaller than a lightning event, but they happen daily rather than a few times each storm season.
What should I do straight after a big storm?
Check whether several appliances have failed rather than just one, since multiple failures together is the signature of a surge. Look for heat marks or burning smells at outlets, and check whether any surge protection indicators have changed. If protection has been used up, it needs replacing before the next storm, not after it.
Lost appliances in a storm, or not sure what protection you’ve got? Give me a call and I’ll check what’s at the board.
Prefer not to call?
Send through a few details and Byron will come back to you.