Blackouts just ‘par for the course’ says Energy Minister Don Harwin during NSW hot season

ENERGY Minister Don Harwin has infuriated thousands of residents hit by blackouts on Sydney’s hottest day in 80 years by claiming the outages were just “par for the course”.

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ENERGY Minister Don Harwin has infuriated thousands of residents hit by blackouts on Sydney’s hottest day in 80 years by claiming the outages were just “par for the course”.

And Ausgrid, the electricity retailer which left homes sweltering without power for hours despite raking in huge profits from skyrocketing bills, had a similar blunt message, saying it would cost it too much to deliver power to “100 per cent of customers 100 per cent of the time”.

There were 42 major outages across the Ausgrid network on Sunday, leaving 31,000 customers to melt as the mercury soared into the mid-40s.

Most of those affected were on the Central Coast, with residents questioning why the increases in power bills had not translated into a better service. Another retailer Endeavour Energy reported outages in working-class suburbs on Sydney’s outskirts.

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NSW Energy Minister Don Harwin.

Mr Harwin said the electricity network had coped “exceptionally well”.

“Localised outages are par for the course with electricity networks throughout the world — especially on days of extreme heat like experienced yesterday,” the Minister said.

“While it is inconvenient and I empathise with those impacted the network operator responded well to the outages.”

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His comments were described as a “massive exaggeration” by angry Raby resident Nathan Antony, 36, who struggled to keep his two children cool when the power shut off for close to two hours.

Samantha and Taylor enjoy a break from the heat at the McCallum pool in Cremorne. Picture: Getty Images

“Considering the amount of money you spend on electricity, you definitely expect more bang for your buck,” Mr Antony said.

Hot days in Sydney has seen plenty embracing the water, including these guys at Bronte Pool. Picture: Julian Andrews

Electricity generators, which were feared would struggle to meet demands this summer, were not to blame.

Of the outages, four were caused by overloads on the network, Ausgrid said, with the majority down to “localised issues” such as equipment failure with underground cables going haywire in the extreme temperatures.

Alanah Hicks and Adriana Dzumhur beat the heat at North Narrabeen. Picture: Adam Yip

Linda White enjoys the summer heat. from Sydney City with her son, Daniel. Picture: Simon Bullard

Ausgrid’s head of system control Stuart Donaldson apologised to customers and said the causes were being investigated.

“The equipment on our network does get stressed at times of high load, high heat and so we did see things such as underground cable failures.”

Mr Donaldson said the network was built to withstand high loads during summer, but it was not possible to guarantee supply all the time.

“The community can’t afford to pay the amount of money that it would cost to do that, so what we have to do is be prudent ... and get the most efficient outcome.”

Endeavour Energy had interruptions for 7400 homes at Hoxton Park, Narellan and Penrith. A spokeswoman blamed “minor equipment failure” caused by high loads and high temperatures. Ausgrid reported a net profit of $420.1 million in 2014-2015 while Endeavour Energy posted a profit of $149.1 million in 2015-2016.