The mayor of Broken Hill has decried the lacklustre response to a power outage triggered by a catastrophic storm, which left residents to endure rolling blackouts thanks to unreliable backup generators in stifling heat.
A storm on October 16 thrashed transmission lines to the ground, cutting the outback city off from the electricity network and leaving it with one unreliable gas turbine generator, which has failed repeatedly, including for 36 hours on Monday when temperatures hit 30 degrees.
“We have been let down over this period,” Broken Hill Mayor Tom Kennedy said at a media conference on Saturday. “A town of 20,000 people, and the people in the surrounding areas, shouldn’t have to have put up with that.
The town of Broken Hill in western NSW was cut off from normal power supply earlier this month.Credit:
“We are often referred to as the friendliest city. That doesn’t mean we have to be friendly now.”
Since the storm, cafes have thrown out tens of thousands of dollars worth of frozen food, and elderly residents have suffered through extreme heat without airconditioning.
NSW Environment and Energy Minister Penny Sharpe acknowledged the frustration with delays to getting power restored and indicated power would become more reliable as more generators were brought in.
NSW Energy and Environment Minister Penny Sharpe.Credit: Oscar Colman
“I don’t think any of us are happy with the situation that we find ourselves in, and I know the people with Broken Hill and the Far West definitely aren’t,” Sharpe said.
Much of the anger has been focused on electricity transmission company Transgrid’s failure to have more than one generator available in the event of a power outage. The company said the area’s other generator was taken offline for refurbishment last month.
Transgrid’s head of far west operation response Sam Pickering said on Saturday: “We sincerely apologise.”
The first of a series of temporary transmission towers has now been built, and Transgrid expects to have normal power operations restored by November 6.
Residents will receive $200, while small businesses will receive $400 payments from the government on Tuesday.
NSW Nationals leader Dugald Saunders said residents and business owners needed more than a few hundred dollars.
“They are living in Third World-like conditions out there, and it simply isn’t good enough,” Saunders said.
Asked by a local reporter on Saturday if the amount sufficed, Sharpe said it was a “first round” of support.
“I’m not really interested in playing politics at this point,” she added.
Local independent councillor Michael Boland welcomed action to bring in more generators.
“The question has been asked, ‘Why wasn’t this done a week ago?’ It was a slow pick-up – the National Party were the first to realise it was a serious issue,” he said.
“Broken Hill people feel like they had been abandoned, and they still do to some extent.”
He said locals welcomed news that the NSW Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal, which regulates the state’s electricity network, would investigate the safety and reliability of transmission infrastructure supplying Broken Hill.
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