Generators for Bundaberg

Bundaberg gets half as many cyclones as Cairns: 7 inside 100 km since 1970, against 14. The last was Fran in March 1992: it crossed near the Town of 1770, unroofed 40 houses in Bundaberg and heavily damaged fruit and vegetable crops across the district.

Ex-cyclone Oswald isn't in our count at all, yet it brought Bundaberg's record flood. On 26 January 2013 at least five tornadoes were confirmed along the coast nearby, Australia's largest known outbreak by count, and about 150 homes were damaged at each of Bargara and Burnett Heads. By late afternoon, 10,000 customers across Bundaberg, the Bargara coast and parts of the North Burnett had lost power. Then the Burnett River rose to a record 9.53 m, damaging about 4,000 homes and 600 businesses.

Storms alone have blacked out more than 10,000 customers twice in five years. The November 2017 storm brought gusts over 100 km/h and left about 200 powerlines damaged. In March 2022, lightning storms took out more than 10,000 customers at the peak, and Ergon warned there would be no quick fix where the network was damaged. In February 2023, storms cut power to rural customers from South Kolan and Gin Gin to Electra, and Ergon used a helicopter to inspect the lines.

Floods cut power even to homes that stay dry, because power to flooded low-lying areas is switched off for safety. Bundaberg has had three major floods in 16 years. In the latest, in March 2026, the Burnett peaked at 7.4 m, and most of the more than 2,000 customers without power had been switched off at the direction of emergency services. The bridges closed, cutting North Bundaberg off from the CBD.

Bundaberg is Australia's biggest macadamia region and the major region for sweet potatoes and passionfruit, with avocado, citrus and cane farms all around. When the power goes, cool rooms warm up and irrigation pumps stop.

Power matters for care too. In the 2013 floods, outages at aged care facilities affected medical equipment and refrigerated medication. A generator keeps the fridge cold, the fans going and the phones charged until the grid is back.

• Fridge, lights, phones and a laptop: a 2 to 3.5 kVA inverter.
• Add the TV, microwave and fans: 3.5 to 5 kVA.
• The kettle and other short, heavy jobs: a 3.8 kVA inverter like the WC-P3200Si runs them itself, and a power station carries the fridge, fans and lights overnight.
• Most of the house plus a split system: 7 to 10 kVA petrol, or 8 to 12 kVA diesel if it runs for days.
• The whole house and its ducted air: 10 kVA and up, usually diesel.
• Shop, farm office or cool room: 10 to 20 kVA diesel.
• Irrigation and bore pumps started direct on line: allow about 3.6 kVA for every kW of motor.

Pumps and sheds on three phase power need a three phase set. Our generator size calculator sorts the numbers in about a minute, or browse 8 to 15 kVA and 15 to 50 kVA generators.

A generator and a power station can split the work by time of day. The 3.8 kVA WC-P3200Si puts out 3,000 W rated and 3,200 W maximum, so it runs the kettle and the other heavy jobs itself. But there's no need to run it all night just to keep the fridge cold, and that's where the power station comes in.

Our Welling & Crossley WC-P3200Si and WC-BG2000 bundle pairs the two, and costs less than buying them separately. Through the day, the generator handles the heavy jobs and recharges the WC-BG2000, which reaches 80% in about 70 minutes on AC. Overnight, its 1,843 Wh battery runs the fridge, fans and lights quietly with the generator off. On a farm out past Gin Gin or South Kolan, where storms cut power to hundreds of rural customers in February 2023, that means a cold farmhouse fridge and a quiet night. See all our portable power stations.

The 2017 storm that blacked out more than 27,000 properties hit in early November, before summer had even begun. Buy before November, test-run it at home, store fuel safely and start it once a month, so it's ready for a storm, cyclone or flood.

Most units up to 10 kVA ship free to Bundaberg and the farms around it, and the rest are priced at checkout. Checkout prices are based on delivery to capital cities and major centres, so if your address costs more to reach, we'll call before dispatch with the difference, and it's your call whether to go ahead or cancel for a full refund.

Most orders are dispatched within 1 to 5 business days and arrive within 3 to 8 business days of ordering, from our Townsville store or direct from the supplier warehouse closest to you. Sets over about 1 tonne take 1 to 2 weeks to dispatch and need a forklift, crane or tractor forks on site, and we'll call before dispatch to confirm access to the farm or shed.

A power point is never the way to connect a generator to the house. Backfeeding is illegal and can kill the people fixing the lines. Have a licensed electrician fit a changeover switch and inlet so the generator can supply your circuits safely, and read how a changeover switch installation works. Run the generator outdoors, away from doors and windows, because the exhaust can kill. On the flood fringe near the Burnett, set it up on high ground.