Regional Cities New South Wales (RCNSW), Media Release, 17 October 2025

Regional Cities New South Wales says regional communities that host renewable energy projects should be able to access locally-generated power during a blackout. 

Regional Cities New South Wales (RCNSW) Chair Cr Steve Krieg has written to Energy Minister Penny Sharpe to ask the State Government to remove rules that prevent local generators supplying electricity in times of need.

“Our state is going through a once-in-a-generation energy transition. Regional and rural areas host almost all of the large-scale renewable infrastructure including solar and wind farms, big batteries and transmission lines,” Cr Krieg said.

“A benefit of hosting this critical infrastructure must be improved energy resilience and reliability, but this is being compromised by more frequent and more intense weather events.

“Twelve months ago in Broken Hill and the Far West, more than 12,000 households were without power for up to two weeks.

“Despite being surrounded by solar, wind and battery projects that power the rest of the state, these communities were unable to access that power due to outdated regulations and poor coordination.

“What happened in Broken Hill is a warning for other regional communities that host new energy technology and infrastructure: the benefits of the energy transition may well bypass the very places enabling it,” Cr Krieg said.

On the 12-month anniversary of the outage, Broken Hill Mayor Cr Tom Kennedy said the impact of the outage had been far-reaching.

“Six towns lost access to clean drinking water and the supply of fuel was disrupted or limited, including for emergency services and community transport,” Cr Kennedy said.

“At 20 health facilities and five aged care homes, which look after our most vulnerable people, the outage caused severe disruption.

“Small businesses lost many thousands of dollars in stock. Some were forced to close their doors for days, standing down staff. For many, it was the toughest period since the pandemic.

“This was an extraordinary event that exposed weaknesses in New South Wales’ energy network. It’s also provided us with an opportunity to see what needs to be done to protect all regional communities from future prolonged blackouts,” Cr Kennedy said.

In its letter to Minister Sharpe, Regional Cities NSW asked the NSW Government to: 

• legislate mandatory outage and asset condition disclosures to regulators and emergency agencies;
• fund regional resilience infrastructure, including battery storage, microgrids and alternate transmission lines, with allocations in the 2026-27 Budget and beyond;
• mandate place-based emergency communication protocols, tailored and tested for regional communities;
• empower regulators to enforce compensation mechanisms when service obligations are not met; and
• establish a Regional Energy Equity Taskforce to put community voices at the centre of planning and reform.

Cr Krieg said the outage impacting Broken Hill and the Far West had exposed the vulnerability of the electricity network.

“Our communities deserve reliable, resilient and equitable access to power. Regional Cities NSW wants to work with the State Government to make that a reality,” Cr Krieg said.

“We know how suddenly a blackout can occur. In Broken Hill and the Far West, we’ve seen how a prolonged outage can impact communities. We need proper backup systems, better planning and stronger communication channels in place.

“Investment in resilient energy and telecommunications infrastructure will help build stronger, safer and more connected regional cities. Action now will ensure communities aren’t left in the dark in the future,” Cr Krieg said.

Background

Electricity outage in Broken Hill and Far West NSW

A severe storm on 16 October 2024 caused a major electricity outage in Broken Hill and the Far West region of New South Wales. The storm damaged towers along the single high-voltage transmission line. Broken Hill and the Far West region, which includes the remote towns of Wilcannia, Menindee, Tibooburra and White Cliffs, were without reliable power for weeks.  

The NSW Legislative Assembly Committee on Environment and Planning has tabled its report on the electricity outage. The report highlighted systemic weaknesses in the state’s energy system. The report made 20 findings relating to existing vulnerabilities and gaps in energy and mobile telecommunications reliability, emergency management and response, and the impacts of geographical isolation and distance on all aspects of the October 2024 emergency. 

RCNSW has written to the Energy Minister Penny Sharpe regarding the committee’s report and urged the government to act on its findings.

About Regional Cities New South Wales (RCNSW)

• RCNSW is an alliance of 15 regional cities across New South Wales. Its members are the municipalities of Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Broken Hill, Coffs Harbour, Dubbo, Goulburn Malwaree, Griffth, Lismore, Maitland, Orange, Queanbeyan-Palerang, Tamworth, Tweed and Wagga Wagga.
• These municipalities have a combined population of just over 777,000 or 9.4 per cent of the population in New South Wales. This number is expected to grow by 150,000 by 2030.
• Member cities generate $44 billion in gross regional product annually. The combined workforce is 420,000 workers and there are 75,000 active businesses.
• Healthcare, social assistance, retail trade, education and training, accommodation and food services represent nearly half of all jobs in member cities.