Dust, salt on equipment behind mass outage affecting thousands on SA’s Yorke Peninsula – as Telstra is impacted

More than 21,000 properties remained blacked out across the Yorke Peninsula on Friday afternoon – affecting phone service and outraging locals.

The Yorke Peninsular has been hit by a massive power outage. Picture: Brett Hartwig

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More than 20,000 households and businesses across the Yorke Peninsular were still without power on Friday afternoon, with Telstra announcing phone services in the area had also been affected.

SA’s ongoing dry conditions were blamed for the transmission fault, that plunged the Yorke Peninsula – and 1000 customers in the Cowell area on the Eyre Peninsula — into darkness from Friday morning.

Meanwhile, Telstra Regional Manager, Michael Patterson said phone service has impacted locals across the Yorke Peninsula, and said as time ticked on, being able to call triple-0 could soon be a problem.

“The power outages are affecting several Telstra mobile sites in the Yorke Peninsula area disrupting some mobile and landline services,” he said.

“Our network sites have backup systems that help keep services running in the event of a power outage.

“Unfortunately, as the power has been out for several hours, some sites are starting to be impacted.

“Our teams on the ground are working closely with authorities and where possible, we’re deploying temporary generators to our sites until mains power is restored.

“Where there isn’t an alternative mobile network, access to triple-0 may be impacted.”

Mr Patterson recommended that customers who were able to access a Wi-Fi connection, do so to make calls if needed.

The power outages across the Yorke Peninsula at 6.30am on Friday morning. Picture: SA Power Networks website

Owner of the Minlaton Bakery, Lisa Martin told The Advertiser at 3pm on Friday that she had about six hours before almost $30,000 worth of produce was worthless.

She said she closed the bakery on Friday and Saturday, and said people felt disconnected and left in the dark.

She said she had never seen a power outage on the Yorke Peninsula to the same extent before.

“At this stage, if the power doesn’t come on in the next six hours, it’s actually going to be soiled and we’re gonna have to dispose of everything,” she said.

“Time is ticking now and the concern is real.

“We’re looking up to anywhere between $25,000 and $30,000 worth of product that is currently sat (sitting) in our cool rooms and freezers … it’s huge.

“This is next level, I can’t describe today’s power outage … it’s eerie, it’s quiet, it’s abandoned.”

Ms Martin said she had only received a “generic” text message from SA Power Networks to inform her that they were power outages, but gave her no indication of when it would be turned back on.

SA Power Networks workers at Kulpara. Picture: Dean Martin

Meanwhile in Wallaroo – which is a normally abuzz by midday on a weekday – the main street had been shut down since the morning.

Amanda Price from Copper Coast Cafe said she had bought several freezers worth of stock on Thursday.

“I’ve had to buy a new generator or all that stock will get thrown in the bin,” Ms Price said.

The generator cost her $1000 and she has already lost a days takings.

“But that’s not the only problem,” she said.

“We can only run it for a few hours. All the petrol stations are closed.

“It’s really not good enough.”

The Copper Coast Cafe at Wallaroo had to close and owners, Amanda Price and her daughter Brianna, have had to buy a $1000 generator to keep their fridges and freezers running. Picture: Dean Martin

Lawyers, doctors and hardwares stores were also closed with the lights out with signs on the doors saying they will shut all day.

A retail worker from a large chain said he received a text message from SA Power Network at 5am saying the power would be out until 11.15am.

However, just after midday he was sitting in the shop, lights out, listening to a battery-powered radio, waiting for the power to come back.

“I think they need to do better. I’ve already turned away several customers,” he said.

Schools in the region were also forced to encourage parents to keep students at home.

The Wallaroo Primary School said while the school was open, parents were urged not to send their children to school.

“Due to the outage across the area, we are encouraging families … to keep learners home until the power returns,” the school posted on social media.

“The school is open but without aircon etc, we ask for your support in this … phones are not working so we cannot receive calls.”

The Kadina Memorial School also asked students to stay home.

“Due to a power outage across the area, we are encouraging families who can, to keep students home until the power returns,” the school posted.

“The school is still open but with limited toilet facilities due to pumps, we ask for your support in this.”

Large parts of Yorke Peninsula were without power on Friday. Picture: Dean Martin

An SA Power Outages map showed on Friday at 6.30am, 27,000 customers across SA were in the dark – most of them the Yorke Peninsula, though there were also outages on KI, Cape Jaffa and the Coorong. By 11am, that number had dipped slightly to just under 26,000.

SA Power Networks said on its website that “some rural customers are experiencing frequent momentary or prolonged power outages”, including in the Yorke Peninsula.

“This issue is caused by the accumulation of salt and dirt on our powerline equipment during the ongoing dry spell,” the post said.

“When moisture levels rise, such as during morning dew or light rainfall, the built-up pollution across the insulators can lead to power disruptions.

“We recognise that these frequent outages are frustrating for our customers. To address this, we are proactively cleaning the affected equipment in high-risk areas. However, due to the vast number of insulators across our network, it is not physically possible to clean them all.

“Significant rainfall will ultimately be necessary to fully resolve the issue.

“We appreciate your patience.”

ElectraNet – the owner and operator of South Australia’s electricity transmission network – told The Advertiser it expected power would be restored by late afternoon.

But as of 4pm, more than 21,000 homes were still in the dark.

“ElectraNet experienced multiple faults on the transmission network this morning impacting power supply to the Yorke Peninsula,” the spokesperson said.

“Extended dry conditions in the region has seen a larger than usual dust and salt build-up which has affected the network.”

The spokesperson said a planned outage was scheduled for early Sunday morning to address this issue by de-energising the Hummocks substation to perform the necessary maintenance.

“Unfortunately the network experienced multiple trips this morning as a result of the dust and salt build up, which has resulted in some damage at the Hummocks substation,” the spokesperson said.

“While the substation is de-energised and the damage is being repaired, the planned maintenance will be undertaken, negating the need for the Sunday morning outage.

“Work is underway to fix the damage and restore power as soon as possible. At this stage it is anticipated that power will be restored by late afternoon.”

Tom Koutsantonis says ElectraNet “have got to get their skates on”. Picture: NewsWire / Tim Joy

Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis told FIVEAA the situation was “unacceptable” but ElectraNet were working hard to get power restored.

“I’ve made it very very clear they’ve (ElectraNet) have got to get their skates on,” he said.

It’s going to be very hot tomorrow, it’s going to be 39 degrees … we can’t have an entire peninsula with 30,000 people without power. This is unacceptable. They know that and they’re working very very hard to get it done.”

It comes as residents and business owners in the Upper Spencer Gulf have reported multiple outages in recent weeks.

SA Power Networks has been contacted for comment.

It comes as power costs are set to rise with South Australian homeowners facing an increase of up to $114 a year and businesses a 6.6 per cent hike.