The Shadow Minister for Energy Dr Steve Thomas says the latest power outages in Kalgoorlie are simply the latest reminder that the Government failed to learn from the February 2022 and January 2024 Kalgoorlie blackouts.
“In 2022 power outages had significant impacts on Kalgoorlie residents and hit local businesses directly in the hip pocket” Dr Thomas said.
“In January this year there were again long term power outages that lasted for days and devastated Kalgoorlie businesses.
“There have now been additional outages in March and August, which are simply repeated reminders that the backup system is inadequate.
“At the time of the 2022 power outages former energy Mr Johnston told the media “we would love to see more investment into generators in the Goldfields”.
“As recently as November 2023 Western Power announced it was doing maintenance work on the Kalgoorlie backup generators, which should have seen the current failure managed far better. According to the Western Power release of the time “The generation can be used as a backup power supply for unplanned outages on Western Power’s 220kV network.”
“And in March this year the Government announced another upgrade, this time providing a solution but not until 2026” Dr Thomas said.
“Kalgoorlie residents have a painful two year wait with more of these outages to come until the Government provides their long term solution.
“We have been through the biggest fiscal boom in our state’s history, with repeated massive Government surpluses, but the lessons that should have been learnt have not been acted on.
“While I am not blaming the Government for an individual power outage, this is now a trend in Kalgoorlie that could have and should have been fixed, but residents in Kalgoorlie will have to wait two more years.”
