Horizon Power asking Gascoyne residents, businesses and visitors to mind power use during eclipse week

As the Gascoyne prepares for tens of thousands of visitors for the Ningaloo solar eclipse, electricity provider Horizon Power is asking people in the region to be mindful of their energy usage, in the hope things will only go completely dark for the right reasons when the moon blocks the sun.

Horizon Power has said while it has prepared for the event and is not expecting any power outages, it is encouraging people to save power to avoid overloading power supplies over the week.

According to the provider 10,000 to 40,000 are expected to come to the region, which is home to 9537 according to the 2021 census.

Senior manager customer service and community David Frankel said Horizon Power had prepared and was confident there would not be any power issues with the increased energy demand, but precautions had also been put in place in case there were problems.

“We’ve been aware of this for quite a while, pretty significant planning has been going on for 12 months in trying to understand what the impact is going to be,” Mr Frankel said

“It will be just like a normal summer peak, but to be sure, we’ve taken up a few stand-by generators, so we’ve got some extra generation on-site, and we’ve got extra teams on-site as well . . . just to make sure if something does happen then we’re on to it quickly.”

Although confident in its preparations, the provide is asking people, especially in Exmouth, Onslow, Carnarvon and Denham to try conserving energy.

“With this many people in town, we’re just saying ‘be mindful with your energy,’ particularly things like air conditioning, refrigeration . . . so that there isn’t a blackout,” Mr Frankel said.

“If you’re leaving the house or caravan for instance, turn the air conditioning off, turn the power off, rather than leaving it on to come back to a chill.”