WESTERN POWER — MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS — WOODVALE
455. Hon TJORN SIBMA to the minister
representing the Minister for Energy:
I refer to Western
Power's maintenance operations in the suburb of Woodvale.
(1)
What expectations should residents have about Western Power's
timeliness in replacing and energising power poles and street lights that have
been removed under fault conditions?
(2)
Is the minister aware of any incidents in which residents who have been advised
that replacing and energising activities should take five business days, have
had to wait significantly longer for remedial action?
(3)
Are budgeting or human resourcing constraints at Western Power constraining the
government trading enterprise's ability to undertake routine
maintenance and replacement activities?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the
honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)
The performance standard for streetlight globe fault repair within the
metropolitan area is five days. The Economic Regulation Authority's
most recent energy distributors performance report for 2016–17 noted
Western Power's average repair time for the approximately 33 000
reported metropolitan streetlight globe faults was 3.45 days against the five
day target.
(2) Yes.
Unfortunately this can occur when reported streetlight globe faults are in fact
underground cable faults. Approximately 432 cable faults impacted streetlights
in 2017–18. Cable faults are significantly more costly and difficult to
repair than globe faults and generally take between eight to 12 weeks to
identify and fully repair, with larger and more complex projects requiring
additional time. The evolution of building standards means Western Power is
also required to redesign existing infrastructure to ensure it meets current
standards. Woodvale has experienced 49 cable faults impacting multiple
streetlights in the area. Western Power anticipates that the remaining
underground cable faults affecting streetlights in Woodvale will be repaired by
July.
(3) No.