Having just 14 per cent battery left on your smartphone can be quite stressful, right? Now imagine your smartphone is the state of Tasmania.

That's pretty much the situation right now on the Apple Isle, which has just 14 per cent capacity in its hydro electric dams and its main supply cable wiped out by a mystery fault.

The tear in the 12-centimetre-thick Basslink cable that has sent Tasmania into an electricity emergency.

Tasmanians haven't had any brownouts yet, but the state is now relying on 150 diesel generators and a decommissioned power plant to keep electricity supplies up until the winter rains arrive to replenish water levels. That's right, in 2016 an entire Australian state is relying on emergency generators.

And on Tuesday came news that the Basslink undersea cable – which usually supplies half the state's electricity – won't be fixed until at least June. A spokeswoman for Hydro Tasmania said it was still "assessing the implications" of this news, but just a week ago it was denying reports its own staff were preparing for blackouts.