CS Energy spends $38m on lawyers as it tries to keep report under wraps

Beleaguered state-owned CS Energy spent $38m of taxpayers’ money hiring lawyers over the past two years, including to fight the release of the landmark report into the company’s woes.

Beleaguered state-owned CS Energy spent $38m of taxpayers’ money hiring lawyers over the past two years, including to fight the release of the landmark report into the company’s woes.

The investigative report into the 2021 Callide C explosion compiled by forensic engineer Dr Sean Brady, cost taxpayers a further $10.4m.

But CS Energy did not receive a draft report until last December, by which time more than $7m had already been spent.

Opposition energy spokeswoman Deb Frecklington criticised CS Energy’s financial management during estimates hearings on Tuesday, particularly questioning the timing of the draft report.

“Could this expense have been avoided totally if the government had simply told the truth and released the report that has been paid for by the taxpayer,” she said.

CS Energy chief executive Darren Busine defended the expenditure, saying that the legal fees covered a range of issues, including an ongoing class action.

“These were important legal fees incurred to protect the interests of the organisation and, ultimately, the owners of CS Energy,” he said.

Mr Busine revealed he first saw the draft Brady report on December 15 last year.

Callide Power Station

“So CS Energy expended $7.1m on a report before anyone had seen a draft,” Ms Frecklington said.

The mounting legal fees and delayed public release of the Brady report have drawn significant public and political criticism since the catastrophic explosion in May 2021.

The revelations at budget estimates comes just days after CS Energy’s latest woes at the Callide Power Station, with three workers injured over two days and the shutdown of Unit C3 four months after a rebuild.

CS Energy confirmed Unit C3, forced offline by a battery charger fault, will remain inactive until August 26.

“The charger manufacturer has inspected the charger on-site and advised a rebuild and factory testing before it can be reinstalled and commissioned,” a spokesman said.

“Preliminary investigations by the battery charger manufacturer indicate that the fault was the result of a component failure within the charger and was an extremely rare event. The affected equipment is within its warranty period as it was commissioned in December 2023.”

Unit C4, which has been offline since the 2021 explosion, is slated to return to service by August 31.

The cost of bonuses paid to five CS Energy executives also resurfaced at estimates.

Five executives were paid $291,000 in bonuses in 2022-23 despite the issues plaguing the company.