Blackouts in the Shire of Irwin frustrate local businesses and residents

Blackouts in Dongara and surrounding towns have continued throughout the summer, frustrating local businesses and residents who say they are tired of yearly outages. Western Power said the towns of Dongara, Port Denison and Greenough had experienced several outages since Thursday, January 19 because of high humidity, while transient faults, high winds and a transformer fault had caused outages in Milo and Springfield. Outages have been a frequent issue for the area for many years, residents say, and according to Western Power, the Shire of Irwin was one of the local government areas most affected by blackouts in 2021-22. Maxine Miles, owner of the S-Bend Caravan Park in South Greenough, said she had to close up shop early on January 22 as there was no working EFTPOS or phone line. The site also relies on electricity to pump water, so outages eventually mean no running water or flushable toilets. Ms Miles said the blackouts took a mental toll on people. “You’re just up all day wondering when the power is coming back on, what do I need to do to prepare? It’s never-ending and the stress it puts on people is horrendous,” she said. “It’s just so frustrating. We pay for a utility and we aren’t asking for anything special.” Callum Kerr, owner of Southerlys Tavern in Port Denison, said the frequent outages had forced him to buy a $35,000 generator, putting a hefty cost on his business. “It’s getting worse and worse every year,” he said. “The amount of food we’ve thrown out over the last few years, it’s just been ridiculous,” Retiree Trish Mulcahy said she was concerned some people’s health, especially that of the elderly, would be at risk when telecommunications went down. “It’s not just the fact that we can’t have the lights or the air-conditioner on, it’s bigger than that and its more prevalent,” she said. Ms Mulcahy said she wanted to see Western Power personnel visit the region to have a meeting with community leaders to discuss the shortages’ impacts and how they could be fixed. “Its not about being angry and aggressive. We need to have a constructive meeting to see how we can make our community better,” she said. Western Power has said it is committed to improving electricity reliability in the Mid West, and listed replacements for around 95 poles, 44 crossarms, 53 insulators and other assets as examples. A high-voltage emergency response generator has also been deployed to help power parts of Dongara and Port Denison. “We understand the impact frequent power outages have on residents and businesses in these areas, and we’re working on longer-term plans to enhance reliability of supply,” executive manager asset performance Gair Landsborough said. “We’ll provide further updates to the community as this progresses.”