Joanna Tucker, Yorke Peninsula Country Time

Last week, about 25,000 Yorke Peninsula residents were without electricity for almost 20 hours.

The power went out in the early morning of Friday, March 14, due to faults in ElectraNet’s transmission network and was restored in the late evening.

The outage was exacerbated by the hot weather, with temperatures across YP in the high 30s.

In a statement released around 4.30 pm on Friday, SA Power Networks said ElectraNet, South Australia’s main transmission network service provider, advised them that insulator pollution had caused a fault at its Hummocks substation.

This pollution occurs during prolonged dry periods when dirt and salt build up on them and SAPN said the issue had worsened in recent weeks due to a lack of rainfall.

SAPN manager of external affairs Cecilia Schutz said the power outage was a one in 10 to 15 year event, caused by the driest summer in 33 years.

“With over 650,000 Stobie poles across the state, it is not feasible to clean every insulator,” Ms Schutz said.

“The most effective resolution to this issue will come with significant rainfall, which will help clear the pollutants from the equipment-we need at least one millimetre of rain in a 24-hour period.”

Ms Schutz said additional, smaller faults in SAPN’s local distribution network may have become evident once ElectraNet had rectified the issue at the Hummocks substation.

An ElectraNet spokesperson said the company regretted the impact on families and businesses because of the unplanned power outage.

“Work to repair the damage began as soon as it was safe to do so and continued until transmission services were restored on Friday night,” the spokesperson said.

The ElectraNet spokesperson confirmed the outages were due to extended dry conditions and the accumulation of dust and salt, along with fog.

“The network experienced multiple trips, which resulted in damage at the Hummocks substation,” the spokesperson said.

“ElectraNet routinely monitors the network and proactively plans and undertakes maintenance activities to address identified risks such as the accumulation of dust and salt.

“While the immediate damage has now been repaired, the ongoing build-up of dust and salt on transmission equipment will remain a challenge to reliable operation until good rain settles the dust and washes the equipment.”

The spokesperson said ElectraNet would continue to deploy alternative targeted measures to mitigate the risk of further outages.

ElectraNet is responsible for carrying electricity long distances through its transmission network, while SAPN is responsible for connecting that electricity to customers.

Narungga MP Fraser Ellis said he planned to seek an exemption to the 20-hour compensation rule for businesses and individuals and find out more about ElectraNet’s maintenance procedures.

“Plan A is to seek an exemption to the rule that compensation is only awarded for power outages of 20 hours or more — it is my understanding that we came just under that,” he said.

“An inconvenience to an entire region has to outweigh a rule that is written on a piece of paper.

“The second part of my plan is to uncover whether there is proactive cleaning of insulators in our transmission network to ensure something like this does not happen again.

“I want to know whether there has been cleaning in the past and it has been discontinued, or if we have never cleaned and have always relied on the rain.

“It seems an extraordinary situation that we rely on rain to clean our power infrastructure when we live in the driest state on the driest continent in the world-there must be a better system.”

Minister for Energy Tom Koutsantonis said previous governments had privatised electricity, including in SA.

“Because of these legacy decisions, questions about the outage must now be directed to ElectraNet, and we are doing so,” Mr Koutsantonis said.

“ElectraNet will need to account to the independent regulators governing its operations and obligations for its performance on March 14.”

Mr Koutsantonis said the SA Government was made aware of the power outage on the morning of March 14 and was in constant communication with ElectraNet.

“We have sought assurances that the outage was unavoidable and that power was restored to YP homes and businesses at the earliest possible time,” he said.

“The Yorke and Northern Local Health Network advised affected hospitals to operate on generators, with the YNLHN working with all sites to minimise impacts to patients and communities throughout the outage.” 

The YP Country Times asked readers how they were keeping cool last Friday during the outage, and this is what they had to say:

Elizabeth Bowgen No power at Ardrossan, had car running to charge phone, feet in doggies’ pool and cold beer in esky.

Natesha Davey Beach and limited phone service dropping in and out.

Emma Hickman Sitting in the car with the air-conditioning on while charging my phone lol.

Bronwen Allen We have coverage off and on today but now starting to worry what will happen to all food in fridges and freezers. Can’t afford to lose it and replace it.

Sue Rice We have solar battery so have power running two air conditioners, TV and have internet and also our charged car. No problems here Solar battery best move we made.

Sally Young Our bakery in Wallaroo mange to trade from 8am until 2.30pm, when we completely sold out. We are lucky to have a diesel generator, which has been running since 5am. Otherwise we would have lost all our stock. We were inundated with customers today. We did our best under the circumstances but we’re hoping the power is back tonight.

See more stories on the power outage in the issue. 
This article appeared in Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 19 March 2024.
Related story: Losses all over the peninsula