Mt Martha Village businesses seek payout after being left in the dark
Dozens of furious Mt Martha traders will be forced to shut up shop after being told their power will be cut — and main roads closed — for a day with only one week’s notice.
South East
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Angry Mount Martha traders say a power outage and road closure to allow for work at a private development will cost them $500,000 in lost business.
Up to 41 businesses at Mount Martha Village will either have to shut up shop on Thursday, July 25, or spend thousands on generators when United Energy cuts their power.
The power company informed traders via a letter drop last Thursday, July 18, that they would be without power for the day and the Esplanande and part of Bay Rd would be closed.
The roads are the main entry points to the Village, meaning that customers will find it difficult to access the businesses that do stay open.
According to an email from a United Energy Customer Resolution Centre staff member, seen by Leader, the closure was to allow for overhead power lines to be removed and underground lines installed. The email did not specify exactly where the work was being carried out.
But Leader understands the work is being done as part of a private development near the corner of Dominion Rd and the Esplanade.
Lyndal Barnes, who owns wine bar Mr Curtis, said she would have to close for the day and remove all perishable food from her restaurant — as would other cafes and eateries at the village
“It’s not worth paying for a generator when its unlikely anyone will be ale to get to the village,” Ms Barnes said.
“Most traders will be closing which means a day’s business lost for us and a day’s wage lost for casual staff.”
Ms Barnes said traders were angry about the lack of notice from United Energy.
“We had eight days to get organised, which isn’t long,” she said.
“There also doesn’t appear to be any chance of compensation.”
Cafe Via Battiste, in a social media post, said the shutdown would collectively cost traders about $500,000.
“This complete lack of care opposes all forms of protocol, guidelines and respect to all planning processes and puts us all at an estimated loss of $500k cumulatively,” a post on the cafe’s Facebook page said.
“That’s no doctor, no dentist, no bakery and you guessed it, no coffee.”
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A United Energy spokeswoman said a total of 224 customers — mainly residential — would be affected by the works.
“Given the area is popular for tourism, we selected a weekday to minimise the impact on weekend visitors and traders,” she said.
“We appreciate that some traders are upset about the outage and sought to provide them at least one week’s notice to allow them to organise alternative power supply such as generators.
“We know how inconvenient it is to be without power and when we are planning work we always look at how to minimise the impact on customers.”