JOB cuts to maintenance staff made by South Australia’s energy distributor are being blamed for causing delays in restoring electricity around the state.
Frustrated businesses face tens of millions of dollars in losses and 10,000 customers were still without power on Thursday night. Many won’t have services back until Friday morning.
South Australia’s energy distributor was warned planned job cuts to maintenance staff would create delays restoring electricity after a major weather event.
As the cost of the power outages on businesses climbs into the tens of millions of dollars and about 10,000 homes faced a third night in the dark, communities slammed SA Power Networks for being too slow to restore power.
WHAT A WASTE: IGA Hahndorf store manager Tom Ratcliffe throws out shopping trolleys full of food spoiled by this week’s power outage. Picture: MIKE BURTON
WHAT A WASTE: IGA Hahndorf store manager Tom Ratcliffe throws out shopping trolleys full of food spoiled by this week’s power outage. Picture: MIKE BURTONSource:News Corp Australia
In a text message, seen by The Advertiser, the distributor yesterday cancelled all rostered days off scheduled for today to deal with the workload.
The union representing electrical supply workers said five months ago it cautioned against redundancies because it would slow the lights being switched on, which it said had “absolutely” played out this week.
SA Power Networks said about 25 staff accepted a voluntary early retirement scheme which was offered to up to 77 workers, but rejected any suggestion its 600-strong workforce was understaffed.
Communications Electrical Plumbing Union organiser Ben Jewell said there was no doubt the job cuts had slowed restoration.
“Absolutely. It has to. You can’t have fewer workers and expect to attend a huge amount of call outs in the same amount of time,” he said.
Read more (plus a couple of autoplaying videos):
http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/frustrated-businesses-face-millions-of-dollars-in-losses-and-10000-properties-still-without-power-in-storm-aftermath/news-story/46925f60e0bdb06c4ddf93053831544aOne bit stood out for me:
Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said the current situation in SA was “completely and utterly untenable”.
“We have the highest prices and the least reliable electricity in the nation,” he said.
“It’s simply not good enough. It’s time for this Government to get off their hands and have a better system in SA, and more than that, a better response to the crises that are now enveloping SA.”
Always more government.
