Power outages are nothing new to residents in the East Gippsland town of Swifts Creek.
Leanne Devries, who runs the town's bakery, has lost count of how many times the business has lost power.
"Sometimes it's for 15 minutes, sometimes it's overnight," she said.
"It becomes hard to have your business running consistently."
An outage can mean a large amount of stock has to be thrown out, which is frustrating for baker Arti Devries.
"Quite often when the power tends to go out you've got bread in the oven, you're in the process of making pies and you've got to cover it all up and try to get it in the cool room that isn't running," he said.
The problem occurs so frequently that most residents have backup diesel generators.
But a solution to some of these problems could be at hand.
SAPS the way I like it
Residents of remote parts of Swifts Creek, Ensay, Benambra and Tolmie near Mansfield are part of a Victorian first trial of stand-alone power systems (SAPS).
SAPS are mini solar power stations that include panels, a battery and a large diesel generator.
They are installed on properties and reduce or remove reliance on the electricity grid.
SAPS are being tested in rural areas connected to single wire earth return lines where power has traditionally been unreliable.
Tracy Joyce lives at Cassilis, near Swifts Creek.
She had been looking to install a rooftop solar system before she got a call from a representative from Mondo, the commercial business arm of AusNet Services.
"As soon as I figured out it was solar power, we weren't paying, and it was part of an experiment, I went 'fine' — because what you need up here is certainty of electricity supply," Ms Joyce said.
So far 14 systems have been installed in the area.
Done deal?
Not everyone wants one.
Steve Pearman lives a few kilometres closer to town than Ms Joyce.
He refused an offer to have a system installed on his property because of concerns about security, breakdowns and cost.
"I think they should upgrade the whole system to a modern three-phase, which would help balance the load out," Mr Pearman said.
"I think they'd be far better off improving the line."
He was worried he would have been charged to have the infrastructure on his property down the track.
But according to the team behind the project, that will not be the case.
"There'll be no extra charges for these customers on top of what they'd normally pay for their electricity bill, so they're not disadvantaged," Mondo's Paul Hoffman said.
'Teething problems'
Mr Hoffman says the systems will be able to provide power during and after a bushfire.
"There's still sun when there's a bushfire around, even though it might be smoky, so they're still collecting energy," he said.
"If it is insanely cloudy there's a diesel backup generator that will kick in and they have quite large tanks, so there's going to be no issue with providing power."
But the trial has not been without faults.
"When you participate in an experiment you know there are going to be teething problems," Tracy Joyce said.
"We had a teething problem the other day because the diesel needed an additive because of the cold weather."
Mondo gives priority to residents who are in remote bushfire areas with single-wire lines.
That means those living on town might need to hang on to their generators for a little longer.
