WESTERN POWER — OUTAGES — REVIEW
181. Dr D.J. HONEY to the Minister for Energy:
I refer to the Shepherd review into
the appalling Christmas power outages, and I quote —
� Western Power spent � ($368 million)
less on distribution network � investment � than it originally planned �
Why was that money not spent to
ensure that our system performed better?
Mr W.J.
JOHNSTON replied:
I thank the member very much for the
question. It is a very interesting question, because the report also shows that
expenditure under the previous Liberal government was over $1 billion short of
allowable expenditure. It is simply not true
to say what the member claims. As the Shepherd inquiry shows, every investment
request by Western Power was supported by the government. The review
found that the state government approved all funding requests made by Western
Power towards cap improvements to the distribution network over the past five
years. The report also states that there was no evidence that investment was delayed
or did not occur due to regulatory or government decisions and that this was
not an issue of lack of state government resourcing. Every cent that Western
Power requested for capital investment in
the network was delivered, and we will continue to fund the network as
requested by Western Power.
The Shepherd review also shows that
it was not a lack of maintenance that led to any of the Christmas outages. I repeat:
I apologise to all customers, all consumers and the community for the
disruption at Christmas. It impacted too
many people and was very disappointing. Unlike the Liberal Party when it was in
power—it never took responsibility for any actions or outcomes—I
again say that I am responsible for the outcome, and I have apologised. I also
commissioned the Shepherd inquiry, which shows a pathway for improvement. I have
spoken and written to both the chairman and the chief executive officer of
Western Power and asked them for an implementation plan so that they will
deliver on the recommendations—all the recommendations—of the
Shepherd inquiry. In addition, I want to be able to tell people that, unlike
the Liberal and National Parties, we are increasing the extended outage payment
from $80 to $120. We are the first government since 2005 to increase the
extended outage payment. Only a Labor government
does that. We will continue to invest in the network and make sure that it
delivers for Western Australians.