Counting the cost
Branxholm businesses are among the dozens across the North-East impacted by the TasNetworks outage on Tuesday with CMTP General Manager Tasmania Dale Jessup frustrated by the costly situation.
March 27, 2024
By Rachel Williams
Businesses across the region say they are bearing the brunt of Tuesday’s power outage to fix damage caused by vandals, with some operators losing out on thousands of dollars and many casual workers left without a day’s pay.
While Scottsdale’s business district was spared, others in more remote areas lost power for as long as 10 hours on Tuesday from 7am.
The work had been planned for Monday, but high winds thwarted attempts, further frustrating business owners struggling to plan for the outage.
CMTP General Manager Tasmania Dale Jessup and Branxholm IGA owners Allen and Noemie Ha represented just two businesses impacted by the repair works, necessary after a vandal attack on a TasNetworks tower earlier this month.
Mr Jessup said its Ling Siding and Branxholm timber operations were impacted, costing the business significantly.
“We planned for it on Monday and delayed all our staff coming in until 8am so staff weren’t driving in from all across the North-East only to be told to go home again and then the power stayed on, so we lost an hour of production on Monday and then a full day closure on Tuesday with permanent employees stood down with pay and casuals losing a day’s pay,” Mr Jessup said.
“It’s going to be an extensive cost and obviously we have customers relying on that production, so we will need to make that time up and that might mean overtime on top of things.
“Trying to plan for one of three days is totally impractical for business and there is no way you can manage it… it is totally ridiculous.”
That sentiment was shared by the local supermarket, with Mr Ha saying the disruption was costly.
“We have two power banks to power one ice cream freezer and another cool room system for milk and meat,” Mr Ha said.
“The frozen products have a limit of four to five hours and if we go beyond that they will be non-resaleable. We will have a heavy stock loss.
“Our stock flow is affected substantially – at least four different trucks have been cancelled and hours of work for casual workers have been lost.”
Mrs Ha said the situation was compounded because they had stocked-up in readiness for a busy Easter rush, before receiving the outage notification from TasNetworks.
“We considered getting a big generator on the back of a truck but that is not viable, there is a huge cost in that and it is not practical with two dozen cables running though the floor of the shop so it’s a safety hazard for customers.
“Insurance won’t cover it so will need to rely on a tax write off to cover the cost of damaged stock.”
A TasNetworks spokesman said it was routine to set aside multiple ‘option days’ for major outage works, instead of one definite day.
“We have gone all-out to ensure this work can be done in a single day, with a single 10-hour outage,” the spokesman said.
“We appreciate local customers’ support and understanding, given the repair outage was made necessary by a reckless act of vandalism.
“Like any network provider, TasNetworks has limited resources and doesn’t usually provide generators to offset outages. The generator installed to power much of Scottsdale is a goodwill addition (not an obligation), at some considerable cost to TasNetworks, to help support the essential services and minimise disruption.”
There is still confusion over compensation. Mr Jessup said he had been told there would be none available, the Ha’s had been told they could receive $100 and TasNetworks said customers may be eligible for automatic payments under TasNetworks’ Power Supply Guarantee.