Endeavour Energy has apologised to residents of the Lower Mountains for two power losses last week that left up to 7500 customers suffering in the extreme heat.
Residents were left without power for hours on Wednesday and Friday – two of the hottest days of summer - following a fire at a Blaxland substation on January 11.
Power was not restored to all homes until 11pm on Friday, after dropping out about 6pm. Endeavour Energy admitted it had to “win back the confidence of customers” following the loss of service.
“Fortunately, problems like this are quite rare events and for most of the year Blue Mountains residents enjoy a secure and reliable electricity supply, and our people take a lot of pride in delivering this service,” said the company’s transmission mains manager, Steve Baker.
“In this instance, however, we know there are a lot of disappointed people and we’ve begun an investigation into the cause of both incidents so that we can secure supply and win back the confidence of customers.”
Mr Baker said early investigations suggest equipment failure caused Wednesday’s fire, which damaged a cable at the Wilson Way substation. Extra generators were brought in to add additional capacity to the network.
But extreme temperatures on Friday hindered the repair effort with Endeavour Energy staff calling fire crews when one of the cables started to smoke.
“Under a normal set of circumstances, we expected to complete repairs and return all Blaxland customers to supply from the substation by the end of the week,” said Mr Baker.
“Our people had worked very hard to achieve this and were in the process of finalising repairs in the substation on Friday afternoon when they saw just how hot the equipment had become throughout the day. When one of the cables started to smoke, they called in the fire brigade to prevent greater damage to the network.
“They worked in stifling heat in the basement of the substation on Friday night and I would like to acknowledge their tremendous effort in repairing the cable and restoring supply.”
All repairs are now compete although the substation will be monitored “closely over the next few days and weeks”, said Mr Baker.
“Barring the unforeseen, customers in the Lower Blue Mountains should feel confident that they will once again enjoy a safe and reliable power supply.
“Once again, I’d like to apologise for the inconvenience this caused to customers,” he said.
Residents in Warrimoo, Sun Valley, Valley Heights, Blaxland, East Blaxland, Glenbrook and Mount Riverview were among those affected by the power losses.
