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Residents and businesses in Far West NSW will receive financial support as the region grapples with a major power blackout.
The support is coming from the NSW Government and network operator Transgrid to be delivered through Service NSW.
A severe storm on October 17 destroyed seven transmission towers and cut power to Broken Hill, Tibooburra, Wilcannia, Menindee and White Cliffs. Over 12,000 properties were without power, many for prolonged periods over the past week.
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The government says payments of $200 will be made to each residential account holder affected by the outage with payments of $400 for each small-to-medium business.
The $4 million package includes a $1.5 million contribution from Transgrid.
NSW Premier Chris Minns visited the region to meet with residents while Energy Minister Penny Sharpe repeated the need to reduce energy use during the peak hours of 5.30-10.30pm.
“This will be a challenging time for the next few weeks,” she says.
“The best way to avoid load shedding is for households and small businesses to reduce the use of energy during the evening peak of 5.30 to 10.30pm.
“This could be as simple as using the dishwasher during the day rather than at night or turning off lights when rooms aren’t being used.”
Emergency Services Minister Jihad Dib says there are repair crews on the ground.
“Emergency response personnel from the Rural Fire Service and State Emergency Service are providing ongoing support … including generators and emergency connectivity,” he says.
Independent MP for Barwon Roy Butler says the package offers some relief.
“The people of Far West NSW deserve a reliable supply of electricity and a robust back-up system. The government is taking action to ensure that is the case going forward.”
Transgrid CEO Brett Redman says they are working with the government and Essential Energy to reinstate a permanent power supply as soon as they can.
“Our primary focus is on safely restoring supply and working to minimise impacts to the community,” he says.
“We hope that this financial support goes some way to assisting those impacted during the past week and we again thank the community for their patience.”
The government has also made food hampers and mobile cold rooms available, with the help of Foodbank NSW/ACT at key locations in the Far West.
A natural disaster declaration has unlocked state and federal funding for the Broken Hill and Central Darling Shire Local Government Areas, and the Far West Unincorporated Area.
The NSW Government has also declared an electricity supply emergency for the Far West region which will empower the energy minister.
Work is under way to restore mains power; the region is mainly reliant on Transgrid’s large-scale back-up generator with temporary towers expected to be in place by November 6.
