As many of you are aware, after the massive storms in February 2020, many Lane Cove residents were left without power. Some residents were left without power for up to seven days.
Although these outages were a result of a natural disaster, Lane Cove and Riverview residents are annoyed that they have experienced so many power outages over the last couple of years.
No Compensation
Many residents lost a significant amount of food as a consequence of the power failure.
According to Ausgrid website you can make a claim if:
“Length of time without electricity supply (Interruption Duration Standard)
If you have experienced a power outage for:
- 12 hours or more metropolitan areas or;
- 18 hours non-metropolitan areas
you may be eligible to make a claim from Ausgrid for $80 (inc GST).”
One Lane Cove resident advised ITC they made a claim and was advised by Ausgrid that as the claim was a result of a natural disaster they would not be compensating her.
Ausgrid replied as follows:
“We write in reference to your recent claim for payment under the Customer Service Standards (the “Standards”) that apply to Ausgrid and other NSW electricity distributors.
Ausgrid has assessed that your claim for an event on 10th February 2020 is ineligible for a payment under the Standards. Our records show that the outage you experienced occurred within a region in which a natural disaster occurred. The NSW government has determined that interruptions to supply during declared natural disasters are not eligible for payment under the Standards.”
Lane Cove West and Riverview
Last week there was another power blackout in Lane Cove West. Riverview has had two power blackouts in two weeks.
This area of Lane Cove has more blackouts than any other local area. ITC has compiled a list of blackouts January 2017 (see below)
| Date of Power Outage | Reason |
| 11th Jan 2017 | Wildlife Touching Terminals on Transformer |
| 8th March 2017 | Flying Fox hitting Wires |
| 16th March 2017 | Underground Cable Fault |
| 17th March 2017 | Tree on Powerlines |
| 10th July 2017 | Overhead Power Line Damage |
| 18th July 2017 | Bat flew into wires |
| 14th February 2018 | High Winds and Tree on Powerlines |
| 18th May 2018 | Bat flew into wires |
| 18th July 2018 | Possum hit wires |
| 22nd May 2018 | Voltage Issue |
| 31 August 2018 | Underground Cable Fault |
| 31 October 2018 | Low Voltage Issue |
| 5 December 2018 | Bat |
| 30 December 2018 | Low Voltage Distributor |
| 20 January 2019 | Low Voltage Issue |
| 26 May 2019 | Underground Cable Fault |
| 1 August 2019 | Branches on power line |
| 26 August 2019 | Branches |
| 15 September 2019 | Possum hit wires |
| 6th November 2019 | A fault with a piece of equipment on the overhead network |
| 10th March 2020 | Bat Flew Into Powerline |
| 16th March 2020 | Tree Came Down on power line |
As you can see some of the instances are due to natural causes.
Ausgrid has previously advised ITC that almost half of all outages on the Ausgrid network are caused by external factors such as trees and branches falling on powerlines, lightning strikes and wind damage during storms, wildlife contacting powerlines, cars hitting power poles and vandalism of equipment. Leafy Lane Cove is well known to have power issues relating to nature.
However, you can also see from the list above some blackouts are caused by equipment failure.
In February this year the ABC reported:
“Staffing levels at Ausgrid have fallen below minimum legal levels, which is hindering the electricity supplier’s efforts to restore power across NSW, the industry’s union says.
A leaked internal document, obtained by the ABC, shows Ausgrid’s total number of staff as of December 2019 was 3,238 — 10 per cent below the minimum legal requirement”
Pressure Should Be Put on Ausgrid to Fix the Issue
ITC has sent the above list to our local member the Hon Anthony Roberts. ITC spoke to his electorate office yesterday and they confirmed that in the last three weeks they have received numerous complaints from residents in Lane Cove, Riverview, Longueville and Hunters Hill about power blackouts.
The Electorate Office spokesperson said they have been putting pressure on Ausgrid for a plan of action to fix these issues.
If you are concerned about the number of blackouts in these areas you can contact Mr Roberts here.
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