Opposition Leader Shane Love MLA has criticised the Cook Labor Government for boasting about power reliability on the same day over 1,500 households across the Wheatbelt and Mid West faced unplanned outages.
Mr Love said the State Government had an abysmal track record when it came to regional power reliability.
“While the Energy Minister boasts about power reliability, 1,289 households in the Wheatbelt had their lights go out, leaving them sweltering on a hot day, and disrupting local businesses,” Mr Love said.
“Meanwhile, another 220 households in the Mid West endured outages, with some waiting over 10 hours for power to return.”
Mr Love condemned the Government’s lack of preparedness for summer, suggesting these outages are only a preview of what’s to come.
“If the Cook Government can’t keep power on during a warm October week, how can they unsure stability through the summer? They’re full of empty words and broken promises.”
Mr Love said recent years had demonstrated Labor’s promised investment into the power grid had not delivered.
“In January this year, over 30,000 customers from the Perth Hills through to Kalgoorlie were left without power and with limited communications for several days.
“And frequent and ongoing outages across regional WA are costing small businesses thousands of dollars, harming local tourism opportunities and leaving residents frustrated, upset, and feeling like second-class citizens.”
In 2022-23, Quairading households experienced an average of 16 power interruptions for a total of 68 hours and 46 minutes, while Lake Grace residents were without power over 52 hours, and Ravensthorpe was left in the dark over 33 hours.
Mr Love said Mid West communities were among the worst affected.
“Seven of the top ten most impacted local government areas for power outages are in the Mid West – Chapman Valley, Dandaragan, Morawa, Dalwallinu, the Shire of Irwin, Mingenew, and Three Springs – experiencing a combined 150 hours without power in 2022-23.”
Mr Love also labelled the announcement by the Energy Minister that the State Government was investing in drone technology as “a bandaid solution”.
“While drones and aerial inspections might sound impressive, these short-term tactics fail to address systemic issues in Western Power’s network – issues that impact regional and metropolitan areas alike.
“Real investment in infrastructure hardening, network resilience and backup generation is long overdue,” Mr Love said.
