Community meeting on surge of power outages

There have been increasing power outages in our region for the past month and validly, multiple communities are concerned and angry.

I have been in regular contact with SA Power Networks and advise there is a community meeting to be held next Tuesday 17 February, at Minlaton Town Hall, 6pm-8pm, at which everyone is welcome.

I am also very pleased to advise that SA Power Networks is bringing in mobile generators to parts of the state affected by power pole insulator pollution, and that the first generator will be operational in Minlaton within days.

So serious is this situation, I have requested to the Premier that Parliament be recalled to push through my Private Members Bill --the National Energy Retail Law (Small Compensation Claims Regime) Amendment Bill 2025 -- which has been on the chamber agenda since I introduced it last August.

It forces better compensation for businesses and households that are enduring regular extended outages – an outcome that I believe will result in increased action and accountability from distribution networks.

Currently the Small Claims Compensation Scheme only compensates for loss attributed to voltage variation and my Bill expands this criteria to include unplanned extended power outages.

Every time businesses are left without power they lose thousands of dollars in stock and or fried equipment as well as lost trade.

And we well know this issue is not just about money, or even convenience.

It is a safety issue.

We cannot have unreliable power supply in extreme weather impacting the young, the elderly and the infirm, and nor can we leave communities isolated unable to communicate when phone towers lose power.

I greatly appreciate SA Power Networks and ElectraNet meeting with me and arranging to attend a community meeting where valuable information can be shared directly to people impacted.

It is a basic human right in 2026 to have a consistent power supply, and given we pay the highest prices in the world, we should receive a reliable service.