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Parliamentary Questions


Question On Notice No. 645 asked in the Legislative Council on 24 March 2022 by Hon Martin Aldridge

Question Directed to the: Minister for Regional Development representing the Minister for Energy
Parliament: 41 Session: 1
Tabled Paper No: 1269- View tabled paper


Question

(1) I refer to the media statement issued on 31 January 2022 titled "Christmas 2021 power outage review begins" and Legislative Council question without notice 46, asked on 16 February 2022, and I ask:
:
(a) on what date did the Minister receive the report of the independent review mentioned in the statement?
(2) How many South West Interconnected System customers experienced an outage between 24 and 28 December 2021 and therefore fall within scope of the review?
(3) Of those identified in (2), how many customers were located in:
(a) a metropolitan region; and
(b) a region outside of the metropolitan region?
(4) Of those identified in (2), please provide a breakdown of customers by locality or suburb?
(5) Of those identified in (2), how many customers are eligible for an extended outage payment by locality or suburb?
(6) What was the cost of the independent review?
(7) I note paragraph 6 of the review terms of reference that suggests the Minister for Energy would outline to the Western Power Chair his expectations in relation to the review and I ask that any correspondence between the Minister and the Chair be tabled?
(8) Did review chair, Michelle Shepherd, receive full co-operation from Western Power in relation to the conduct of the review?
(9) If no to (8), what information was withheld from Ms Shepherd and what impact did that have on the review?

Answered on 11 May 2022

(1)   The Minister received the Independent Review Report on Friday 18 March 2022.

 (2) 107,020 supply points experienced one or more outages over the Christmas outage period. This excludes outages that are less than 30 seconds and which were successfully restored via an automatic auto-reclose scheme.

Data relating to outages is recorded from supply points, which does not distinguish between residential and non-residential connections.

(3)  Of the supply points that experienced an outage during the Christmas outage period:

(a) 72,914 supply points were located in the metropolitan region

(b) 34,106 supply points were located outside of the metropolitan region

(4) Please see attached ‘impacted distinct supply points’ which provides impacted supply points by suburb and local government authority. Please see Tabled Paper [           ].

(5) Please see attached ‘suburb count of extended outage’. The number of distinct supply points eligible is 18,053 however some supply points experienced more than one extended outage. Please see Tabled Paper [           ].

(6) The cost of the independent review $165,000 (ex-GST), with these costs recouped from Western Power.

(7) The Minister wrote to the Western Power Chair on 27 January 2022 regarding the expected compliance of Western Power in completion of the review. Please see Tabled Paper [           ].

(8) The Independent Reviewer advised the Minister that Western Power fully co-operated in the undertaking of the Review.

(9) N/A