Grim power struggle in suburbs
REDLYNCH AND BRINSMEAD RESIDENTS SICK OF COSTLY ELECTRICITY OUTAGES
REDLYNCH residents are at boiling point over what they say are constant power outages.
Resident Marie Lloyd said she returned from holiday to an unpleasant surprise – the power had been off and food in two fridges and two freezers was entirely spoiled.
“We’ve been here since March and there’s been several power cuts, I think the longest was three or four hours,” Mrs Lloyd said.
“We are thinking when the power came back on, it has tripped and as we were not here there was nothing we could do – we threw out a lot of food.
“We are in isolation so couldn’t go and buy food, we got the bare minimum with an online shop, everything is gone from the supermarket.
“Neighbours said the power had been out at least twice while we were away. We had just cleaned out the fridges and later in the evening on January 8 the power went out again, luckily we have a generator – with fresh food, we can’t afford not to run it.
“Since we have been home the power has gone out three or four times, so I will be to Ergon and telling them I expect a discount on my next bill.
“People are over it.”
Ergon spokesman Brett Judge said there was an outage on January 11 from 8.44am to 9.13am caused by a tree branch fallen across lines.
He said there was an outage on January 6 from 8.27am to 8.32am – and the previous recorded outage was last May.
Resident Oliver Voss disputed Ergon’s record of those short outages and said people were fed up.
“Ergon can say what they like, I can tell you now in Redlynch Valley there’s been four outages in nine days, something has to change,” Mr Voss said.
“On January 3 the power was out for four hours from 1am and it was very uncomfortable and on January 8 it was out for three hours – it is not good enough and there’s a lot of angry people,” Mr Voss said.
“We don’t have a cyclone, there’s no torrential rain, no wind.
“A lot of people, like myself, are working from home – I am fortunate to have a generator but a lot of families don’t.
“We want answers, our community is really angry.”
At nearby Brinsmead, Bronwen Davies-Griffith said it was time for infrastructure to be replaced.
“This has been going on for decades, they just tinker, they don’t replace the old equipment and it is happening with such frequency, it’s just not on,” she said.
“It’s not fair, we are the forspeaking
gotten ones. I have been throwing out food for years and with Covid, there’s a shortage of meat at the supermarkets, there’s none to buy.”
Mr Judge urged residents to call Ergon with issues.
“We would always encourage people if they can see something wrong like a branch over line to call 13 22 96 and tell us exactly where that is; sometimes crews have to start at one end and drive along until they find an issue. If you see a line down, assume it is live, ring triple-0 and stay clear,” he said.