Warrnambool businessman Steve Crichton will be a little better prepared when Powercor cuts his electricity on Sunday next week.

In September the power was cut to Lava Street businesses on a Saturday morning, leaving business operators angry after they were left without electricity on a busy Saturday morning.

It's understood the erection of scaffolding at the Koala Childcare & Early Learning in Warrnambool's Lava Street led to the disruption of supply.

Mr Crichton, from Crichton Fireside Shop, said at the time Powercor's complete lack of consultation was not acceptable.

Back in September, he said: "We had to do a lot of so we could trade. We organised a generator so we could have basic systems, lighting, computers operating, EFT-POS and phones," he said.

"We did have a rush of customers and without the generator it would have been disastrous.

"We received a notice on Friday the previous week saying that there would be an interruption to power supply so essential work could be carried out to ensure electricity reliability.

"That was simply not the case.

"What we had was one business which wanted to do work on their property."

Mr Crichton said his gripe was with Powercor and its complete lack of consultation.

On Thursday this week Mr Crichton received paperwork from Powercor telling him the electricity would be cut on Sunday next week.

"We've just got the paperwork. It says Powercor has to work on the network and they need to turn the power off," he said.

"That's not the case. They need to take the scaffolding down at Koala childcare.

"Powercor is not completely open and honest. They should just tell us what's going on and not fudge it. It's not good enough."

Mr Crichton said his business, including the bike shop, was booming after COVID.

"Everyone is saying it's hard to get bikes but we've got plenty here," he said.

The works in September on the north side of Lava Street also led to almost traffic jams of traffic in the central business district with the west-bound lane between Kepler and Fairy streets closed.

September: Warrnambool business operators are angry after they were left without electricity on another busy Saturday morning.

It's understood the erection of scaffolding at the Koala Childcare & Early Learning in Warrnambool's Lava Street led to the disruption of supply.

Steve Crichton, from Crichton Fireside Shop, said Powercor's complete lack of consultation was not acceptable.

"I understand the scaffold had to be put in place, but to do it on Saturday morning, when it could have been done after hours or Sunday was very surprising," he said.

"We had to do a lot of so we could trade. We organised a generator so we could have basic systems, lighting, computers operating, EFT-POS and phones," he said.

"We did have a rush of customers and without the generator it would have been disastrous.

"We received a notice on Friday the previous week saying that there would be an interruption to power supply so essential work could be carried out to ensure electricity reliability.

"That was simply not the case.

"What we had was one business which wanted to do work on their property."

Mr Crichton said his gripe was with Powercor and its complete lack of consultation.

"I rang them on Monday last week and was told there was a response time of four days," he said.

"That's simply not good enough. They were not prepared to take anything on board or to consult, to consider any other alternate time to do the works."

Mr Crichton said he was not called back by Powercor.

"We are equally concerned that while the scaffold is now up that it will likely have to come down during the busy lead-up to Christmas," he said.

"I would hope there is far better consultation in the lead up to those works, far greater considerations of businesses and far more suitable times are considered to do the works," he said.

A Powercor spokesman said the company completed a planned power outage on Saturday between 9.30am and 4.30pm to provide safe access to erect scaffolding on a new development site.

He said the work was completed at the request of the developer.

"Customers impacted by the outage were provided approximately 10 days advanced notice of the work," he said.

Mr Crichton said many businesses were doing it tough during the current coronavirus pandemic and some shut their doors on Saturday morning in Lava Street.

"There's been a gas outage in South Australia which has led to lots of inquiries at our Mount Gambier store," he said.

"We can't cross the border to go there and just operating that store has been difficult.

"We take their calls on Saturday mornings and being without electricity left us in a very difficult situation.

"It's a real issue. We just had to bite the bullet and hope everything was OK."

Hammonds Paint staff reported similar issues with a lack of consultation.

That business also answers calls for other stores on Saturday mornings and that service was unable to be provided due to the lack of electricity.

The works on the northside of Lava Street also led to long lines of traffic in the central business district with the west-bound lane between Kepler and Fairy streets closed.

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.