Business
5 February, 2025
Ergon defends its planned blackouts in Mount Isa suburbs
The energy company has received negative feedback for the regular outages.
Ergon Energy has responded to public criticism over its decision to conduct a series of planned power outages in Mount Isa despite sweltering heatwave conditions during the past week, claiming “four or more” outages were “not unusual for the location, population, and scale of the network”.
Despite temperatures soaring above 40 degrees on multiple days, an Ergon spokesperson said the “critical work to repair, replace and maintain power poles, cross-arms, switches and conductors” was required to prevent potential unplanned shutdowns in the future.
The spokesperson said Ergon had provided written notice of its intended outages, which enabled residents to plan ahead.
“We endeavour to limit the frequency and duration of planned outages to reduce the impact on customers, but during major maintenance programs there are times when we need longer outages and more of them to get all the work done,” the spokesperson said.
“By doing planned maintenance, they are reducing the risk of unplanned outages, which can cause much longer power interruptions with no notice.
“While heatwave conditions might lead to the postponement of some planned outages in extreme circumstances, the reality in Queensland over summer is that high temperatures are to be expected. It is not practical or efficient to schedule all network maintenance in cooler weather when Mount Isa and other parts of the Sunshine State experience higher temperatures for many months of the year.”
Mount Isa residents have been vocal in their disapproval of the outages with some households in Healy receiving written notice that electricity would be shut off at their properties for up to four days over the past week.
Multiple homeowners contacted North West Weekly to share their frustration, while others vented on social media and some emailed complaints directly to Ergon.
A similar series of planned outages in December were cancelled by Ergon after North West Weekly raised concerns from residents.
Ergon did not provide details of the total number of residents impacted by the outages last week.
However, based on similar outages planned in December, it is believed to have affected hundreds of Mount Isa households.
“While we were able to reschedule a couple of planned outages late last year, there are some priority defects that need to be rectified within set timeframes for public safety and to maintain powerline integrity, so we cannot delay that work,” the spokesperson said.
“To deliver a safe and reliable electricity supply to our customers and communities, our crews across Queensland need to carry out tens of thousands of maintenance tasks every year in all kinds of weather.
“When crews are working on the high-voltage network, this will require a larger outage. When they are working on the low-voltage network, a smaller number of customers will be impacted.”
Ergon suggested residents avoid the heat during the outages by “visiting a friend or relative with power, go to an air-conditioned shopping centre, the local library, public pool or other community facilities, or set up a generator.”