Wheatbelt outages ‘bloody inconvenient’ Reece Whitby declares as new figures show towns hit hardest in 2024

Wheatbelt power outages are “bloody inconvenient”, Energy Minister Reece Whitby has confessed, as new figures reveal that towns have been slammed with electricity losses in 2024. After The Sunday Times reported on the decade of problems faced by the Wheatbelt town of Quairading, Central Wheatbelt MP Mia Davies raised the matter in Parliament, saying despite paying their bills, the service was not acceptable. Locals reported a drop in morale and the need to ensure self-sufficiency after being hit with 16 outages in the last financial year, with the average customer losing power for almost three days. Ms Davies, who has been calling for solutions to outages in towns across her electorate for some years, said issues of reliability were affecting people’s lives, business, safety and morale. “I do put it to the Government that if there have been 14 blackouts of more than an hour in a metropolitan area that Western Power would have jumped to find an invest in a solution,” she said. “Why ... if the State Government has invested in upgrades to the transmission line, the poles and the conductors ... is that community still in the dark. “I urge the minister to consider fast-tracking a solution for clarity because I do think this town has endured more than enough.” Mr Whitby responded to the claims, saying Quairading faced “unique challenges” because of its location at the end of a long feeder line. “If it’s you with your electricity out. It’s bloody inconvenient and annoying. I get that,” he said. “It is more difficult and more timely to repair and restore those connections because of the sheer distance involved, which is quite often the issue. “We recognise as a government that outages are especially challenging for people in regional and remote parts of Western Australia including Quairading. “In the period since August 2022 Western Power has invested more than a million dollars in strengthening the network that supplies Quairading.” The Parliamentary debate comes as figures show Wheatbelt shires have been slammed with power outages in 2024, with one enduring 10 times the amount of time without electricity in just the first two months of 2024, compared to 2023. New data released by Western Power shows the shires hardest hit by outages across January and February, including during the super cell storm which cut power to communities from Perth to Kalgoorlie. Wheatbelt communities make up all bar one of the top ten shires hit by the longest outages so far this year, with Mount Magnet in the Mid West losing power for more than five days. Dowerin shire also had five days without power, but the 125 hours without electricity was a tenfold increase the Shire experienced in all of 2023. Wyalkatchem and Koorda both saw more than four days without power in the first two months, while Mukinbudin, Wongan-Ballido, Narembeen, Westonia, Trayning and Tammin all had more than 48 hours without electricity. The cause for all of the top ten were listed by Western Power as storms or weather events. A Western Power spokesperson said the outages over the first two months of 2024 came at a time of “unprecedented demand”. “The 2023/24 summer was forecasted by BOM to be hotter than usual and the network experienced the top six highest days of electricity demand between the period of 31 January - 19 February since our last peak demand in 2016,” they said. “While no network can guarantee 100 per cent reliability, we’re continuously working to enhance and improve network resilience in the face of increasing climate change weather impacts to minimise power supply interruption duration and number. During the storms, Western Power had to repair or replace 300 poles, 80 transformers and 21km of conductors, the spokesperson said. “The geographic remoteness of some regional communities creates significant challenges for network reliability, as the location, length of, and weather conditions impacting these network assets, can lead to increased outages as is evidenced by recent weather events,” they said.