AUGUST 2018 | David Claridge

A HIGH number of recent power outages in the Westbury area have prompted locals to speak up in the hope of finding out what is going on.

Information supplied from Tas Networks can confirm that from 2017 to 2018 there have been 33 outages, with only 16 of them planned. The outages have varied in length from three minutes to nine hours.

Talking with a spokesman from Tas Networks, this reporter has learned that the bulk of the Westbury area is supplied by a feeder from the Hadspen substation. The same feeder also supplies Whitemore and Glenore.

Tas Networks are aware of the issue, claiming that ‘The Westbury community does not currently meet their reliability standards’.

“TasNetworks recognises Westbury urban community as one of the poor performing communities and has plans to reduce the length, and hence exposure, of the feeders supplying it” the spokesman said.

“A project has been proposed to rationalise the supply to Westbury urban area, enabling the feeder a cleaner, more direct route to Westbury.

“The project will involve extending our network 5 km along the Bass Highway between Hagley Station Lane and Veterans Row at an estimated cost of $1.7 million and it is planned to be operational by June 2023.”

“Interim solutions, such as investigating if we can eliminate or minimise outages through better protection and transfer capability are currently being investigated to improve the reliability performance of the community prior to the execution of the long term solution.”

It has been shared that one Westbury resident has been refunded $80.00 by Tas Networks for an outage that lasted longer than nine hours.

Photo | Mike Moores