Angry residents of a hinterland city suffering from blackouts and brownouts will meet the prime minister and demand answers to the debilitating blackout.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns will travel to Broken Hill on Thursday, a week after severe storms destroyed power lines and faulty generators left 20,000 people in the area with minimal electricity.
The prime minister has tried to blame the previous government’s privatization of electricity infrastructure, but critics say not enough was done to keep backup systems online.
The disruption has already spoiled tonnes of food, hampered preparations for year 12 exams and even postponed a mental health awareness tour by swimming legend Kyle Chalmers.
Minns will face dissatisfied locals when he heads to the region, Broken Hill mayor Tom Kennedy believes.
“A lot of people in Broken Hill are just not happy, considering we shouldn’t have gone through this,” he told ABC Radio.
“There should have been two generators that would ensure Broken Hill maintained its power supply and also the outlying regions that have been without power for several days at different times during this disaster.”
Broken Hill Residents Fight Blackouts, Power Disruption
Instead, one gas generator has been out of service for almost a year and the other tripped on Monday due to high power demand due to hot weather.
The second generator was running Wednesday, but community demand exceeds its capacity, causing blackouts.
“It’s easy to say, ‘Don’t turn on the air cooler’, then it gets to 37C, 38C and people just can’t stand it,” Cr Kennedy said.
Transgrid said additional generators were installed in the city on Tuesday night and more units were on the way, while a rotating 24-hour shift to fix power lines began on Wednesday.
Workers also returned to the local mine, which closed to reduce demand on the network.
A natural disaster has been declared, as has an electricity supply emergency, allowing ministers to use additional measures to address the problem.
But subsidies or compensation for homes and businesses are still not offered.
“The feeling on the ground is not very good,” Nationals leader Dugald Saunders said after his visit on Wednesday.
“One in two people I’ve spoken to tell me they’ve had to throw away hundreds of dollars’ worth of food, but there’s no clarity on assistance for families already facing a cost-of-living crisis.”
On Wednesday, the prime minister blamed the ongoing blackouts and brownouts on the previous coalition government’s $10 billion sale of the high-voltage electricity transmission network in 2021.
“None of this would have been a problem if the previous government had not privatized it,” he told parliament.
Workers are repairing the power grid after storms destroyed power lines. (Provided by Transgrid/AAP PHOTOS)
“When something similar happened (in 2009) and it was owned by the New South Wales government, redundant power came in straight away.”
Operator Transgrid will face an independent investigation into its maintenance standards and possible breaches of its licence.
The disruption came at a bad time for local year 12 students as they sit HSC exams.
Late night study sessions are held at Broken Hill High School to reduce stress for seniors.
“While (energy providers) are shedding the load and children are not assured of having power at home, we will continue to provide it,” director Ross Mackay told AAP.
School kitchens have also been made available to families who have difficulty cooking at home.
Schools are expected to request special consideration on behalf of HSC students.
It’s another headache for city students after an extensive mold outbreak forced the demolition of Willyama High School.
Initially, the 570 students were spread across the city before a detachable student pool was established in the grounds of Broken Hill High School in April.