Can't trade because the power's out or the road is closed?

Some of the hardest crises to explain are the ones with nothing broken. The shop is fine, the stock is fine, the staff are ready — but the power has been off for four days, or the only highway into town is cut by a landslip, or a police cordon has closed the street. Customers can’t get in and nothing sells.

Regional businesses know this well: one closure can mean weeks of lost trade. This page covers how to protect yourself and bridge the gap. It’s listed as “Power or access cut” in our emergency action checklist.

What should you do in the first 24 hours?

• Protect perishable stock. Move it to another site, hire a generator or refrigerated trailer, or record what’s lost with times and temperatures.
• Get the official notice — your electricity distributor’s outage details, the road closure announcement or the cordon information. Screenshot it with the date.
• Tell customers how to reach you, whether you’re open, and when you expect to be.
• Decide on rosters and tell staff early.
• Start a lost-trade log. Each day: were you open, what did you take, what would you normally take?

What should you do in the first week?

• Check your business interruption cover for utilities or prevention of access extensions, and any minimum outage period.
• Look for event assistance. If the outage or closure is part of a declared disaster, business.gov.au lists activated programs — including, for some events, support for businesses that lost trade rather than property.
• Call the ATO before a due date you’ll miss. For declared disasters, the Emergency Support Infoline is 1800 806 218.
• Talk to your landlord about rent relief if you can’t access the premises.
• Talk to your bank about repayment pauses or hardship arrangements.
• Trade differently if you can — online orders, deliveries, a pop-up in the next town, catering instead of dine-in.

Who should you call?

Contact	Why
Electricity distributor	Restoration times, outage confirmation
Local council or transport authority	Closure duration, detour signage
Your insurer or broker	Utilities and access extensions
business.gov.au — 13 28 46	Current assistance for the event
Landlord	Rent relief during closure
Your bank	Repayment options
Local business chamber	Collective support, promotion when you reopen

How much trade are you really losing?

Owners tend to underestimate this. Use a simple table:

Measure	This period	Same period last year
Days fully closed
Days partly open
Sales
Spoiled stock
Extra costs (generator, hire, delivery)

Our shutdown cash runway tool turns these numbers into weeks of runway. If the answer is shorter than the expected closure, talk to a real person about bridging it — no credit check applies when you first enquire.

How do businesses fund a power or access shutdown?

• Unsecured cash-flow funding — typically $5,000 to $500,000, based on turnover and bank statements from before the disruption. See unsecured emergency cash.
• Line of credit — draw only what the closure costs.
• Property-secured loan — when the closure is long or the amount is large, from $20,000 to $5,000,000. It doesn’t depend on this month’s sales.
• Wages support — see paying staff through a crisis.

Illustrative example only: a roadhouse on a regional highway loses most of its passing trade when a landslip closes the road for six weeks. There’s no physical damage and no insurance extension. The owner uses a line of credit to keep two staff on and cover fixed costs, and draws it down as trade returns.

What should you do before the next one?

• Ask your broker about utilities and access extensions now, not after the event.
• Consider a generator or a plan to relocate perishables.
• Keep a list of customers you can contact directly.
• Keep three months of fixed costs identified so you know your runway.

Our guide to reviewing your insurance before disaster season covers the questions to ask.

What mistakes make a closure more expensive?

• Not recording lost trade from day one. It’s very hard to rebuild the numbers later.
• Assuming insurance will respond. Many policies only cover outages or access loss under specific extensions and conditions.
• Keeping full rosters with no trade. Talk to staff early about hours, leave and options, and check your obligations with Fair Work before changing anything.
• Letting customers forget you. A weekly update by text or social media keeps them coming back when the road reopens.
• Paying fixed costs from money set aside for tax. It creates a second crisis at BAS time.

Can you still trade another way?

Many businesses keep some income flowing during a closure: online orders shipped from home, delivery or pick-up from another site, catering instead of dine-in, or a pop-up stall in the next town. Even a fraction of normal trade reduces the gap and keeps customers in the habit of buying from you.

Which records should you keep?

• Outage, closure or cordon notices with dates
• Your daily lost-trade log
• Sales reports and bank statements before and during the disruption
• Supplier invoices for spoiled stock
• Hire and extra-cost receipts

Need a bridge until customers return?

Nothing broken, nothing selling — a short facility can carry fixed costs until customers can reach you again.

A human being, not an auto-dialler, calls to talk it through with you. We won’t pull your credit file just because you asked a question — that waits until you say go. You won’t get a wave of calls from lenders you’ve never heard of, because we don’t pass enquiries around.

Honest, precise answers — the sum, what it pays for, your state, any real estate — mean we can point you in the right direction straight away. Open the enquiry form.