Remote Wheatbelt communities, left without power for six days in January, will continue to suffer debilitating losses without urgent State Government action on power infrastructure.
Latest impact analysis puts the economic loss for just seven of the shires affected by the January storms at $11m, with some business suffering individual losses in excess of $100,000.
North Eastern Wheatbelt Region of Councils president Cr Melanie Brown said while State Government had offered $240 for households, business had so far been ignored.
“The six-day power outages from the January storms caused a cascade of disasters for more than 34,000 homes and business, similar only to Cyclone Seroja,” she said.
“There were interruptions to water supplies, severed emergency telecommunication services, loss of mobile and landline connections, closure of essential services including fuel and health services, with extreme heat posing significant risks for residents with no means of respite.”
Analysis commissioned by NEWROC, by Econisis estimated the region lost $4.6m in economic outputs, $1.1m in supply chain impacts and $5.4m in production and consumption.
Cr Brown said it was critical that the State Government and national communications carriers recognised the ongoing risk to lives and property and redressed infrastructure gaps.
“We have submitted two unsuccessful market-led proposals, met with ministers and agencies and applied for funding to run trials to improve power reliability,” she said.
“However, we need State Government and national telecommunication carriers to match our commitments and work with us and surrounding local governments to resolve these issues.”
The Econisis report also highlighted a warnings of increased power interruptions over the next 20 years that threaten to cost the NEWROC economy almost $126m.
“The scale of economic loss from both power and telecommunication outages underscores the critical need for investment in regional utilities and infrastructure,” Cr Brown said.
“Even a brief interruption in power supply can lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars while extended outages spanning several days can escalate the economic impact to millions of dollars lost within the region and state.
“It is imperative to enhance the resilience of power and telecommunication networks in the region to prevent future economic losses, as well as ensuring communities are safe.”
