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Kalgoorlie-Boulder has been hit by a second blackout this week, and the third major outage since February, amid calls for compensation for businesses that have been affected in the historic mining centre.
Key points:
- Kalgoorlie-Boulder and surrounding towns Kambalda, Coolgardie and Southern Cross lost power today
- Western Power blamed a fault on the transmission line between Merredin and Kalgoorlie for the latest outage
- More than 16,500 customers were affected by power outages across the WA Goldfields on Sunday
Western Power has apologised for the latest outage, which left 16,000 customers without electricity for several hours today.
The Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KBCCI), which represents more than 600 businesses, estimated the cost of the blackouts was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In a statement, the chamber said "Kalgoorlie-Boulder is too important to the State's economy to be at the whim of power outages".
KBCCI president Bill McKenzie said many retailers do not have back-up generators and have to dispose of thousands of dollars worth of goods and pay for staff wages when they were unable to productively work.
"Modern communities rely on electricity – it is an essential service – and Western Power must be able to guarantee this community power supply," he said.
Kalgoorlie-Boulder has a population of 28,709, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The city is on the edge of the power grid, known as the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) which services most of the State's population.
Kalgoorlie-Boulder Mayor John Bowler said he met with Energy Minister Bill Johnston after the blackouts in February and asked for him to address the situation with Western Power.
"You're always going to get a blackout when you're at the end of a 700-kilometre-long transmission line from Collie to Kalgoorlie, whether it's a storm or bushfire, that's nature," Mr Bowler told the ABC.
"We understand that but when we do have a blackout, we have backup generators in Kalgoorlie that should be kicking in within 10-15 minutes.
The mayor said the cancellation of the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Racing Club meeting on Sunday had cost the club about $50,000.
Liberal leader and opposition energy spokesman David Honey said the regularity of blackouts appeared to be on the rise.
"We are not a developing nation. We are the wealthiest jurisdiction in the world," he said.
"The minister needs to get on a plane, come and talk to people, talk to businesses who have been impacted and inconvenienced by the most recent series of power blackouts.