Western Power trial to increase supply allocation for regional communities

Western Power is nearly doubling rural power supply allocations in parts of WA’s South West and Wheatbelt in a trial aimed at delivering equitable access to energy supply in the regions.

It comes after growing calls from rural communities and the Opposition prompted a review by the utility of “community needs and network capacity”.

Under the trial, which runs until March 31, homes and businesses can install a main switch circuit breaker of equal rating to those required in urban areas — 63 amp.

It is an increase from the current 32 amp supply allocation for single-phase connections in regional and rural areas.

The trial, announced this week, is being rolled out in the Shires of Boyup Brook, Bridgetown-Greenbushes, Collie, Donnybrook-Balingup, Nannup, West Arthur and Williams.

Nationals MLA Peter Rundle said it was “a win for regional WA”.

“Regional families and businesses on the South Western Interconnected System have long dreamed of being able to access the same supply their metro counterparts can,” he said.

“The regions were blindsided by this change in practice from Western Power and it is a relief to many that common sense prevailed and fairness of supply has been committed to.”

The Member for Roe was referring to Western Power’s updated WA Services and Installations Requirements, introduced in August last year.

Western Power spokesman Gair Landsborough said the review considered community and industry feedback on the changes, which require a safety main switch circuit breaker to be installed for all new connections to the grid, including when a new circuit is added to an existing connected premise.

“The circuit breaker requirement was critical to ensuring the safe management of the network and to align with the evolving renewable energy market, as well as Australian standards,” he said.

“To ensure we’re meeting community needs, we launched a review of the regional and rural supply allocations.

“With the accelerated roll-out of advanced metering infrastructure, we were able to gather more detailed data and information than ever before, allowing us to model current and future regional network usage.”

Mr Landsborough said the data showed existing electrical infrastructure could support an increase in regional load, with network reinforcements to be implemented through forward planning.

“The trial will further support that the rural supply allocation is fit-for-purpose and we’re confident we’ll be able to standardise this, but we need to ensure this is managed in a safe and reliable way,” he said.

“Main switch circuit breakers support the safety of the community and the network, as they’re designed to provide overload protection for a household if connection service capacity is exceeded, preventing significant outages and damage to equipment and appliances.

“They ensure safe and equitable access (to) power supply for the whole community and support the growth of renewable energy and rooftop solar and battery storage systems.”

Deputy Opposition leader Shane Love said the Government had been forced to recognise the impact of power outages beyond Perth and provide a solution.

He welcomed the trial but said he was disappointed Mid West residents, “who suffered frequent and prolonged outages over summer”, had been “cruelly overlooked”.

“While this is a start to boosting energy supply in regional WA, more can be done by the McGowan Labor Government to ensure all West Australians see an increase in power supply,” Mr Love said.

Shadow energy minister David Honey described Western Power’s existing policy as “damaging”.

“The existing policy was having a major negative impact on households and, in particular, risked destroying many renewable energy businesses in the regions,” he said.

“The approach being taken to restrict electricity capacity to households fitting solar panels was completely counterproductive, effectively removing the opportunity for regional households to fit solar panels and reduce their power bills.”