Macclesfield resident, Stephen Russell is angry over continual power outages in the area.By Tania Martin
MACCLESFIELD resident Stephen Russell has called on power supply company SP AusNet to reduce the frequency of interruptions in the hills.
This comes after Mr Russell lost power for more than 17 hours on Wednesday, 28 and Thursday, 29 September.
He said the power went out at 9.20pm on the Wednesday and didn’t come back on until 2.25pm the next day.
“Trees are regularly trimmed around power poles, but far too many times, falling timbers are leaving many residents in darkness for extended periods of time,” he said.
Mr Russell said he understands that some repairs take longer than others but he described the latest incident as ludicrous.
SP AusNet spokeswoman Emma DaniellEdwards said the company understood Mr Russell’s frustration, but the faults in the area had been mainly caused by possums and birds damaging the powerlines.
Ms DaniellEdwards said this year’s particularly wild weather had also contributed to the outages.
She said in response to customer concerns in the past 12 months, SP AusNet would send out a patrol team to make further inspections and clear any hazards that may have resulted from recent storms.
Mr Russell said interruptions to power supply in Macclesfield happen once or twice a week.
He said SP AusNet’s tree maintenance program doesn’t seem to be working as there have been numerous times when branches have fallen and brought down powerlines.
However, Ms DaniellEdwards said since February the state had experienced particularly wild weather resulting in loose branches and bark.
She said residents can assist SP AusNet crews by reporting potential hazards to the faults hotline on 131 799.
