The WA government has sought the help of two multinationals in a bid to halt a series of rolling blackouts impacting the state's mining heartland.

Kalgoorlie-Boulder, 600 kilometres east of Perth, has been struck by repeated blackouts over more than a decade, leaving the town's 30,000 residents increasingly angered.

The situation came to a head in January when a multi-day outage left residents queuing for fuel and scrambling for relief as temperatures reached into the high forties.

With state-owned Western Power unable to guarantee the city's power supply would not be cut further, the state government has turned to BHP and Canadian-owned TransAlta to provide an ongoing reserve of power.

Under the arrangement, surplus energy from the miner's suspended operations at Nickel West and TransAlta's private energy network will provide backup generation in the event the power supply from WA's South West Interconnected System (SWIS) is cut.

While the exact cost of the deal has not been disclosed the companies are expected to recoup tens of millions of dollars from the arrangement.

More ambitiously, the government has also backed an additional transmission line to Leinster, 370km north, to link the city's network with mining operations and emerging clean energy sources in the northern Goldfields.

"We need a more resilient network across the board," said Energy Minister Reece Whitby.

"We don't want to go through the same situation we did earlier this year.

Vulnerable position and aging infrastructure

The bulk of the city's power issues stem from its position on the SWIS, WA's largest electricity grid.

Its power supply depends on the integrity of a single, nearly-700-kilometre transmission line from the state's power generation hub at Muja, south of Perth.

When that line is damaged, as happened following freak storms in January, blackouts have regularly followed.

The management of the supply and infrastructure by Synergy and Western Power has also come under fire.

Asked whether the utilities were failing regional customers, Mr Whitby defended their records.

"There are occasions when there are power outages. No system and no utility can guard against that," he said.

But he conceded the city was reliant on "1970s technology" to guarantee reliable power.

He said the government had spent $130 million over three years strengthening the local power network, including increasing staffing, allowing for "black start" capacity on the West Kalgoorlie Power Station's turbines, and seeking increasing support from local contractors.

Candidates exchange power barbs

With Kalgoorlie among a number of Labor-held regional seats the government is hoping to defend at next year's state election, the power fix also helps neutralise a thorny political issue.

Liberal candidate Rowena Olsen announced earlier in the week that the opposition was pursuing its own partnership with TransAlta in a bid to source power from the Parkeston Power Station it co-owns with Northern Star Resources.

"It shouldn't have taken the WA Liberals to stand up for Kalgoorlie before the Cook Labor government bothered trying to fix the rolling blackouts they have put us through," she said.

But Mr Whitby rejected any suggestion of a connection.

"The Liberal Party should hang their head in shame," he said.

"They had no contact or conversations with TransAlta. They have no energy policy and non plan for Kalgoorlie."

Labor MP for Kalgoorlie Ali Kent acknowledged the community frustration.

"These are not empty promises, these are guaranteed from today," Ms Kent said.

"I think what happened in January was a freak accident. That's not going to happen anymore."