Updated March 07, 2017 01:33:12

A former manager at Victoria's soon-to-close Hazelwood power station is "devastated" after coaxing new recruits to the plant with claims it would be operating for another five to 10 years.

Robin Warren even convinced his son Nathan to give up nursing and move interstate, just two years before the announcement of the imminent closure.

In October, Hazelwood management told staff the power station would be shutting down at the end of this month.

"They would have known up to 12 months beforehand they were considering closing the power station," Robin told Lateline.

"But all the information we were getting was 2025 and beyond.

"And [when] the announcement came … it was devastating."

Nathan Warren gave up his job in Port Macquarie and moved his young family to Victoria's Latrobe Valley in 2014.

Some of the 750 workers who will lose their jobs on March 31 have been offered redundancy payouts of more than $330,000.

But since Nathan had only worked at the plant for two years, he will get roughly the equivalent of eight weeks' pay, barely covering the cost of moving interstate.

"For me it probably puts me back where I was when I started, but no job," he said.

Hazelwood closure creating fears for future

Both Robin and Nathan also have serious concerns about what the closure will mean for energy security in Victoria and beyond.

Photo: Nathan Warren gave up his job and moved his young family to Victoria's Latrobe Valley to work at Hazelwood. (ABC News: Chis Taylor)

Robin says he and his colleagues started noticing instability in the system about five years ago, as the amount of intermittent renewable energy in the grid increased.

"The frequency started to shift around a lot… I haven't got the answers, but I see problems coming," he said.

Nathan, who hopes to open a café in nearby Inverloch, is planning on installing a back-up generator.

The closure will have wide-ranging consequences for Victoria and beyond

"If they're shedding power because there's not enough power in the system, I don't want to lose out on business because of that," he said.

"You don't knock down the house you're living in before you build your new house … We don't have anything to replace this [loss of power]."

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull today renewed his warning about what the closure of Hazelwood, which supplies more than 20 per cent of Victoria's power, would mean for the grid.

"In this state, the Labor Party has allowed the closure of the Hazelwood Power Station with no planning, no planning at all," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Victoria.

"A massive reduction in the reliable electricity base load power for Victoria. They have let down the workers at Hazelwood and they have let down industry and families right across the state."

End of an era

Nathan's grandfather Reg was among the first group of men to work at the Hazelwood plant when it opened in 1964.

Photo: Reg Waldon was one of the first men to work at the Hazelwood plant when it opened in 1964. (ABC News: Chris Taylor)

"When the place started up it was a great thing for the valley … The security was good. You had a job for life," Reg said.

He retired in 1987 and now fears for the future of the Latrobe Valley and the workers from his home town of Morwell.

"It's going to cause a lot of problems for the people that work there … They're going to leave the area and that's not good."

Topics: electricity-energy-and-utilities, industry, business-economics-and-finance, morwell-3840, vic, australia

First posted March 06, 2017 21:16:25