Mid West residents’ overwhelming frustration with an unreliable power supply has seen Member for Moore, Shane Love MLA create petitions calling for the Energy Minister to address the issue.
Mr Love said residents of the region including Mullewa and Dongara were desperate, with complaints that the current power supply was putting health at risk and disrupting business.
“There are real health issues at risk here,” Mr Love said. “We have heard of instances where vaccines have had to be dumped and parents have been concerned about keeping supplies of insulin refrigerated for their child.
“Business proprietors tell me fluctuations in the power supply cause more damage than a straight outage with the damage caused to electrical equipment.”
Mr Love said the situation in Mullewa prior to Christmas when temperatures were well over 40C and many people had fridges and freezers full of Christmas food, was distressing. “Local businesses miss out as customers are forced to shop in Geraldton, while elderly residents have to endure lengthy periods of discomfort because they can’t run their air conditioning at the hottest time of year,” Mr Love added.
The recent outages follow on from similar issues in recent years and occurred despite assurances given at public meetings in 2017 by Western Power.
Mr Love said the reconnection of power in Mullewa was further delayed by a Total Fire Ban. “I have requested that the Minister for Energy and Minister for Emergency Services review procedures regarding Total Fire Bans and power reconnection to address these lengthy outages,” Mr Love said. “I have also requested that the Energy Minister address the supply of power in the Mid West as a priority.
“As a state we have invested heavily promoting WA as a tourist destination and it is just not good enough when overseas tourists arrive in Dongara or Port Denison for a crayfish dinner and the lights are off at the tavern because the power went four hours ago and the restoration time is unknown.”
Petitions are available from Shane’s office, next to the Dongara Post Office, or telephone 99272333 and Email: MooreElectorate@mp.wa.gov.au