‘Just not acceptable’: Quairading in the dark for five days out of nine, slams ‘archaic’ infrastructure

A Wheatbelt community forced to run life-saving medical facilities off a generator during a three-day blackout last week has slammed Western Power’s “archaic” infrastructure and “confusing communication” for the debacle. Quairading residents were forced to shiver through icy temperatures or leave town during the snafu, after a broken power pole plunged 471 homes and businesses into darkness on Sunday, September 14. Despite SMS reassurances from Western Power that crews were “doing everything possible” to have it back on in three hours — it was three days before before it was fixed on Tuesday afternoon. Just a day later it was out again, this time plunging 581 homes into darkness for 18 hours, before being fixed Thursday evening. The following Tuesday, a third power outage left 563 homes without power yet again. Last week’s faults were found to be a broken power pole, which posed an “extreme safety risk” after heavy rainfall flooded the area and rendered it inaccessible. The cause of this week’s outage was unidentified, with crews scrambling to connect a large scale, high voltage backup generator in the meantime. Quairading shire chief executive Nicole Gibbs said the extended outages were “just not acceptable” and the “seemingly archaic” infrastructure regional communities were forced to rely on needed to be addressed. “You had a community in chaos,” she said. “At no level is this acceptable — something needs to be done. “You have old people not being able to use dialysis machines, old people not being able to store medications in refrigerators and pensioners losing food and not having money to replenish that food three days later.” During the three-day saga residents took refuge in the Town Hall, which the Shire ran off its own generator to provide a place where people could keep warm, charge their phones, put food in the fridge and have a hot shower. “We put the heating on, we had Netflix in there, free tea and coffee, we’ve got a lot of refrigeration if people wanted to bring their food in,” Ms Gibbs said. “It’s not a lot we could offer, but at least it was something.” The outage also impacted residents in South Quairading, Dangin, Wamenusking, Bulyee, Dulbelling, Badjaling, Balkuling, Pantapin, Aldersyde, Merredin and Yoting. Small-scale generators were deployed to power the Merredin District Hospital and Berringa Frail Aged Lodge, but the wider community was left in the dark. During the outage, the mercury dropped to 3.5 degrees as a cold front moved through on Sunday and Monday, dumping 40mm of rain across the agricultural region. A Western Power spokesman said severe flooding rendered them unable to access the broken pole and the waterlogged area posed a “high safety risk” to crews and the community. Ms Gibbs said the shire on Monday was informed a high voltage large-scale generator was being deployed, but would not be in town until Wednesday 5pm as it was coming from up north. “I kicked up a bit of a stink, if I’m honest,” she said. “We’re not going to accept that — at no level is this acceptable. “Why is it taking until Wednesday five o’clock to get the generator? “We pay extraordinary high rates for power in this State and we’re completely reliant on seemingly archaic infrastructure that the State claims they can’t afford to fix but they insist on keeping it. “I’m not from the Wheatbelt and what was interesting to me is how how it’s been normalised . . . because it’s so frequent. It’s sad.” At about 3pm Tuesday, before the generator had arrived, crews from Perth fixed the pole and power was restored. A Western Power spokesman said the initial restoration time of three hours was set when the first fault was recorded, but pushed back after crews assessed the flooded site. “That timeframe was extended to Wednesday to allow time for specialised equipment to arrive, weather to ease, and the Perenjori generator to arrive in case repair works were impeded by the weather,” he said. “We acknowledge we need to improve estimated restoration times and causes of outages on our website and assure the community we’re working on this to improve our services to the community, and appreciate the feedback.” The energy giant confirmed it had connected the high voltage back up generator in Quairading on Friday, which would remain on-site for at least a few weeks to ensure the community had power if any further outages occurred. Liberal Party leader David Honey said the frequency of blackouts in regional WA was rising and it was “unacceptable” better back-up contingencies were not in place. “Experiencing outages during a storm may be understandable, as well as not being able to repair the lines in dangerous conditions,” he said. “However, there needs to be a suitable alternative for when the lights go out other than a three-day wait for a back-up generator. “It shouldn’t be left up to the Shire to provide a back-up generator so people can have a hot shower and be able to cook.” Those affected can apply for an extended outage payment.