Sparks fly over electricity upgrades

Higher electricity bills aimed at fixing NSW’s failing electricity network have instead been used to raise revenue for the government, according to NSW Shadow Minister for Energy, Duncan Gay.

Mr Gay said the recently-increased utility levies, intended to fund repair and upgrade work, had been used to prop up the state’s economy rather than improve infrastructure.

“They used these utilities as a cash-cow to prop up their ailing economy, without replacing what they should have,” Mr Gay said.

“Over the last 14 years, a large component of the electricity charges that they’ve paid has been for infrastructure replacement, yet the government hasn’t done it.

“Now we’ve got a second levy which is going to these customers, the businesses and the families across the state, and this minister is out there trying to reap the glory.”

Mr Gay’s s comments came as work began on upgrading Sydney’s electrical network, in an attempt to ensure there will not be a repeat of recent power outages in the CBD. The improvements will cost $1 billion and will not be completed until 2017.

“The problem with spending such a large amount of money in such a short period, is that you have trouble finding the right people to be able to do it, and because NSW has been such a basket case for so long, most of the contractors and most of the engineers that work in this area have left the state,” Mr Gay said.

In a statement, EnergyAustralia said the upgrades would “secure [the] Sydney CBD’s power needs in the future”. It added the project included, “the construction of four major substations and about six kilometres of dedicated underground tunnels that will carry more than 100 kilometres of 132,000-volt transmission cables to connect the substations, creating a secure ring beneath the CBD.”

EnergyAustralia said its crews had already been working for more than two years to complete the first stage of the project, including the City North Zone Substation and the City West Cable Tunnel.

Energy Minister John Robertson said the work would boost the reliability of the electrical network to an international standard.

“The NSW Government’s $1 billion infrastructure upgrade for Sydney will make the city’s power supply the most secure in the country – on par with the best in the world, including New York and London,” said Mr Robertson. “The City North Zone substation alone will provide enough electricity to power up to 25 per cent of our CBD. It will be the biggest substation built in the Sydney CBD.”

He added the dedicated cable tunnels meant they would be “locked away” from any potential cable dig-ins which caused two outages earlier in the year.

But Mr Gay said upgrade work needed to be done years ago, and blamed the recent outages on a lack of action by the state government. “[Energy] Minister John Robertson did the opening with his hard-hat on and his day-glo jacket, [but] the people who should really be doing the openings are the consumers that have to pay the power bills in NSW, because they’ve had to pay for this infrastructure twice,” he said.

“Robertson should be hanging his head in shame – the bloke’s a disgrace.”

by Ehssan Veiszadeh