Electrical Trades Union
Homes and businesses on Sydney’s North Shore are being forced to wait up to five days to have electricity restored following major storms on Tuesday, with the Electrical Trades Union saying the extended blackouts are the result of huge cuts to the number of frontline power workers.
Approximately 13,000 properties remain without power, three days since the storm hit, with electricity distributor Ausgrid informing many residents and businesses that they are unlikely to have electricity until Sunday.
Additional crews from around the state, including from distribution companies Endeavour Energy and Essential Energy, have been sent to the North Shore to assist with the massive task of replacing damaged poles and wires.
ETU secretary Justin Page said the extended, large-scale blackout highlighted the impact of massive cuts to frontline electrical workers, which has resulted in the workforce of the three electrical distributors being slashed by approximately 40 per cent.
“Ausgrid alone has seen approximately 2,000 jobs go, with another 315 people made redundant earlier this year,” Mr Page said.
“These massive job losses have been driven by a combination of power privatisation and deeply flawed government regulation which have resulted in a huge reduction to the number of skilled lineworkers available to restore power and replace damaged infrastructure following natural disasters.
“Power crews were already stretched as workers from across the state had been sent to the NSW North Coast to repair electricity infrastructure destroyed by unprecedented bushfires, leaving even less resources available to handle any additional emergencies.
“The simple fact is that the number of crews available directly impacts the speed that repairs can take place, so if you have a much smaller workforce, the time the public are left without power greatly increases.”
Mr Page said the NSW and Federal Government’s needed to urgently act to overhaul the flawed Australian Energy Regulator, which was responsible for imposing massive cuts across the state’s electricity network in recent years.
“We have a situation where every five years the Australian Energy Regulator is imposing harsh new cuts on the electricity distributors, resulting in even more jobs being slashed,” he said.
“Just this year, the NSW Government was forced to intervene after AER cuts meant 182 regional power workers were going to be forced out of their jobs, with another 500 to be made redundant by 2024.
“In Sydney, similar cuts have occurred at Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy, which has led to the situation we see this week where a smaller number of workers are being run off their feet as they desperately try to restore power.
“The perverse thing is that these cuts were promised to lower power prices for consumers, which they haven’t done, resulting in the public now paying more than ever for vastly reduced services.
“With extreme weather events such as storms and bushfires predicted to become more common with climate change, the prudent course of action would be to ensure staffing levels take these risks into consideration through increased frontline resources and investment in making the power network more resilient.
“Instead, what we are seeing from the AER and distributors is the complete opposite, with jobs slashed, the number of emergency response crews reduced, and reductions to spending on maintenance and upgrades of the power network.”
/Public Release.
