There is just over two weeks until the most demanding time of year for the electricity network begins as people crank up air conditioning units.

Powercor is expecting less intense heatwaves because of a wetter La Nina climate system, but is expecting them to last longer this summer.

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It is also bracing for the heavy rains and strong winds that could come with increased storm activity, general manager of the company's electricity networks Mark Clarke said.

"But of course this is just the weather forecast and we always prepare the network to perform at its best every summer," he told a media briefing this week.

On average, Powercor customers experience two outages a year, or 130 minutes of supply, Mr Clarke said.

"But extreme winds, lightning, heatwaves, fire and debris that gets caught in storms can all impact the network," he said.

"Summer is the season we see more weather events. Already this spring we have had a number of strong wind events."

Last August, hundreds of homes lost power in the Lockwood area when a tree fell on a line in strong winds, followed by outages that stretched from Eaglehawk to Bridgewater, for example.

Powercor has used 2020 for what Mr Clarke described as the company's biggest preparations ever.

"We've completed 1.5 million work hours and spent a record $340 million on infrastructure and upgrades this year," he said.

Powercor also recently installed its second Bendigo "Rapid Earth Fault Current Limiter", a system brought in after the Black Saturday bushfires to automatically shut the network down if it sensed a power line hits the ground or a tree limb.

The REFCL devices proved their worth last summer when they activated more than 100 times.

One in Maryborough shut down a line last February when someone's farming machinery struck overhead lines multiple times without realising.

"Luckily for the driver, the Maryborough REFCL was in activation and detected the contact immediately," Mr Clark said.

"It reduced the voltage, probably saving the driver's life."

Powercor's corporate affairs general manager Jo Pafumi said the company had also launched a public awareness campaign about ways to reduce bills.

"While restrictions have largely been lifted we still have a large number of people working from home than ever before," she said.

Ms Pafumi's team had noticed large numbers of people visiting the company's website to find out more about managing costs and energy efficiency.

"I think what that's reflecting is that in the COVID-environment people have become much more conscious about the energy they are using at home," she said.

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