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I rise today to speak on the National Energy Retail Law (Victoria) Bill 2024, a bill that we do not oppose. This is a bill designed with the intention of ensuring that Victorians are not left in the dark if their energy provider goes under. If this bill passes, the Australian Energy Regulator will automatically transfer customers to another provider if their existing energy provider goes under. This is done through a handful of amendments to the Electricity Industry Act 2000 and the Gas Industry Act 2001, as well as some minor technical amendments to improve their operation.
Gas has been something topical for all regional communities recently, with Labor’s gas ban set to hurt our communities. This city-centric policy fails to consider the necessity that this energy source has for members of regional communities like mine. Regional Victoria is set to be disproportionately impacted by the short-sighted transition, leading to higher energy bills and unreliable power supply. We know that many of our regional communities are only fitted with gas options for heating, cooking and their water. Removing gas options in these houses will only put further pressure on our electricity supply, which has already crumbled under the slightest bit of pressure over summer. I am all for the responsible transition to renewables, but how are our already-struggling communities meant to survive when there are no alternatives?
After power outages left much of the region without electricity earlier in the year, AusNet research found that electricity-only households were saddled with significantly higher costs than those that had gas connections as well. Electricity-only customers spent on average $1100 to respond to an outage over Christmas, whereas if they had gas connections too, that amount was reduced to just $360. This is something that is having a profound impact in my electorate of Euroa, with energy security perhaps the most pressing issue raised by my constituents. Towns like Euroa, Longwood, Violet Town, Ruffy, Nagambie and Strathbogie have been dealing with unreliable power and constant power outages for months now, if not years. Thousands of households have suffered regular outages, with towns like Euroa suffering from 17 unplanned outages during the Christmas period alone. Residents in some of the worst-hit towns in my region say they experienced up to 90 hours of power outages in December and January, with cuts ranging from several hours to several days in many cases.
Wild weather has caused havoc for the state’s power supply. These outages can be tracked back to issues with energy supply itself. There have been outages when it is cold, outages when it is hot, outages when it is dry, outages when it is wet, windy, calm and still. In absolutely all weather conditions, we have had outages. Many of the issues in my region are due to there being a single line of supply running from Benalla to Violet Town through to Euroa and spreading out across the surrounding region, traversing 1200 kilometres of powerlines running off the longest feeder line in the state.
One disruption cuts off up to 5000 homes. Upgrading this infrastructure is essential and will go a long way to reducing the frequency of these outages. People’s health and safety, their ability to operate a business and their general wellbeing are all significantly compromised when there is a lack of reliable power. Since the outages began in my region I have met with more than 300 impacted community members at local town hall meetings and spoken with several more who suffer from the unreliable local power supply, and I want to share some of those stories today so we are all aware of the significant impact that a lack of power reliability can have on communities. Natalie in Euroa told me:
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My concerns are not just for myself but for the elderly, especially those living by themselves. I have a number of neighbours I check on every time the power goes out, as they all lose contact because their phones go down and they do not drive. There are many vulnerable citizens in our area that deserve better, and while many have bought generators, it is just not possible for some to do this.
Irene in Euroa said:
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I use a CPAP machine for sleep apnoea, and I suffer dreadfully the next day from fatigue and brain fog when the power goes off during the night and I am unable to use the machine. My neighbour, who also uses a CPAP machine, sits up all night when the power is out, as he is too fearful to sleep without the machine, as he might die. For so many, our health and general wellbeing are suffering.
Irene is one of 20 people I have spoken with about the torment of not having a working CPAP machine. Liv in Longwood said:
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The experience of repeated power outages and mobile outages has been both frustrating and almost unbelievable in this day and age. I have lived and worked in remote rural communities throughout South Australia, Central Queensland and Victoria in the past and never experienced the number of power outages I have in the last seven months since moving to Longwood.
Judith in Nagambie said:
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My husband is quite disabled and suffering from terminal cancer. Our main issue with the constant power outages is that we lose all phone and internet connection. AusNet advise to keep our phones charged, which we do, but it does not help when the whole system goes down.
When I say these outages are dangerous, I am not exaggerating. The ongoing power outages in my region have highlighted how dependent our community is on a reliable energy supply as well as showing the serious risks that come into play when outages happen. With our phone lines and internet connections being impacted, emergency services like the CFA and SES have struggled to communicate and respond to emergencies. We saw the same thing happen when the floods caused havoc with the electricity supply in previous years. Residents are unable to contact each other and are left in the dark as they struggle without power, light and in many cases water or a regular food supply.
The solution is not as simple as asking everyone to use a generator. Hospitals like Euroa run off a generator in order to provide essential health services to the region when there is a power outage, but they require diesel to run. Most fuel stations in the region do not have their own generators, and their bowsers are rendered useless when the power is out. We had situations this summer where local brigades were not able to be notified of nearby fires and residents were not getting critical emergency warnings. Locals were literally required to walk outside, hope the wind was blowing in the right direction and smell the air to see if there was a bushfire at their back door. This is not acceptable and not sustainable, and it has to be fixed as a matter of urgency.
Due to these outages and the impact they had on our community I arranged meetings with the AusNet CEO and the Minister for Energy and Resources. We discussed how this matter can be improved and how dangerous poor service delivery can be in the first place. Thankfully we are starting to see some progress. Since the regular outages over summer AusNet have confirmed they will be investing an immediate $5 million as their first step towards preventing what is happening across my region. The changes appear to be positive, but time will tell if they are effective and alleviate the issues that local communities like Euroa, Violet Town, Longwood and Nagambie all faced. AusNet indicated they are extremely confident the new changes will successfully improve the situation and confirm that no costs will be transferred onto customers. The changes include lowering the rapid earth fault current limiter sensitivity, repairing defective equipment and animal-proofing the lines, among many immediate changes, and this is all a good start. One of the most rewarding developments for the community is the $10 million resilience fund, allowing residents and local businesses to recoup costs from the outages. I have spoken to far too many businesses that have closed as a consequence of these power outages.
The community fund will work in three key areas: immediate support, community infrastructure and resilience. The community fund will provide immediate support to boost local recovery efforts and assist more businesses most impacted by the power outages who are not eligible for other payments. The fund will also involve supporting and enhancing community facilities so that locals can better access essential support, information and services. Local businesses will also be consulted to determine their specific needs, with supports such as education and facilitation of solar and storage solutions to aid businesses in continuity and other initiatives aimed at the recovery. This is a result of speaking out and fighting for better standards when we know we are not getting appropriate services.
I want to thank everyone in the region who contributed and shared their stories with me. It was so important to hear from those impacted by these power outages and understand the very real effect this is having on households and businesses. It does remain to be seen if these solutions will make a tangible difference to the current system and its reliability. However, I am glad to hear that AusNet are making changes and are taking the matter and the concerns of our community seriously.