Horizon Power has said residents living in regional and remote areas of Western Australia are receiving a more reliable supply of electricity than ever before, with the company recording its highest level of reliability performance in its history.
Horizon Power’s recently released 2017/18 Network Quality and Reliability of Supply Performance Report says on average customers experienced shorter outages, and fewer of them during the 2017/18 financial year than in the previous three years.
This means that on average a Horizon Power customer was likely to experience between one to two power interruptions during the year and the average length of time of these interruptions was only 83 minutes, which is three hours and 27 minutes less than Horizon Power’s internal target of 290 minutes.
Horizon Power acting general manager operations Ziggy Wilk said the business is focused on continuously improving the safety and reliability of power for its customers and the recent improvements are the result of a combination of maintenance and upgrades work.
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“These results are very pleasing given Horizon Power services a vast area of 2.3 million square kilometres and operates across extremely diverse landscapes and climates, such as intense heat and cyclones in the north and severe storms in the south,” Mr Wilk said.
“I am especially proud of the work that has been done in the East Kimberley during the past few years to improve the reliability of supply for our customers in the region.
“A substantial investment of over $14 million was made to upgrade the back-up station in Kununurra. This work, along with network upgrades, means that our crews are able to restore power to customers in less than five minutes, compared to 45 minutes last year.
“The delivery of a safe and reliable supply of electricity is at the core of our business, and I’m very pleased Horizon Power has been able to provide our customers with an even better service throughout the year.”
The report also highlighted that the number of customers who had experienced extended power interruptions of more than 12 hours had decreased by more than 55 per cent.
“More than half of the outages that lasted 12 hours or more were caused by weather, vandalism, birdlife and other events that were outside of Horizon Power’s control,” Mr Wilk said.
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