Power has been returned to residents across the far west of New South Wales more than 24 hours after an emergency back-up generator failed.
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00:00Residents in the Far West have progressively had their power turned back on as of 4.30
00:07yesterday afternoon.
00:08But we did hear from some locals that some didn't receive power until 9.30 or even midnight
00:14last night.
00:15And to be honest, there's not a lot of confidence about the reliability of the power even today
00:20because what's been done is there's load sharing, which essentially means some people are being
00:24pulled off so that others can have consistent power for a few hours, and then that's continuing
00:29until now.
00:30Now, obviously, that's left a lot of locals feeling quite frustrated, including business
00:34owners, and they've been pointing quite a few fingers at TransGrid, and they're not
00:39alone.
00:40Premier Chrisman spoke a little bit about that this morning, and we'll hear from him.
00:44When it comes to privatised utilities that are essential services that have previously
00:49been provided by the government, we're going to make sure that the contracts are followed,
00:53and if there's penalties to be imposed, of course, we're going to do that.
00:57TransGrid provided us with a statement this morning.
01:00They say they're still working hard to install generators into the system so that more consistent
01:05power can be provided to residents of the Far West, and that includes not just Broken
01:09Hill, but the likes of Menindee and Wilcannia and Tibbabara and unincorporated Far West.
01:15They also told us that one of their primary goals is to install temporary poles to seven
01:21of the towers that were notched down, and that requires us to go back a little bit to
01:25Wednesday last week when the storm hit in the Far West, that notched some of the key
01:29infrastructure out, the towers went down because of a tornado, and so they're working to restore
01:34that now.
01:35They've told us that the plans, the design of the replacement line is complete, so really
01:40now it just comes to having the machinery on the ground, which they say is on site now,
01:45and they're just really working through that plan.
01:48They've been very apologetic to the community, but nevertheless, locals are frustrated.
01:52They feel that this should have never happened, and really that they've been abandoned because
01:58of where they live.
01:59The fact that they live in the Far West, in a regional area, and that they aren't prioritised
02:03as such.
02:04And we'll hear from a couple of locals that we spoke to this morning.
02:08It's just a shame there's not more investment in infrastructure for Broken Hill and Menindee,
02:12Wilcannia, Whitecliffs, etc.
02:14Because it's, you know, just because we're sort of far, far west, we shouldn't be treated
02:20like second-class citizens.
02:23These storms are going to get more and more.
02:26The temperature and climate is changing, so I think they should have had some backup.
02:34So clearly locals are very frustrated, and there's no doubt that when Premier Chris Minns
02:39visits Broken Hill tomorrow, many of those same questions and concerns will be put to
02:44him.
02:45So we'll keep you updated on how that goes and how the community engages with him.