The fight for reliable power in the greater Douglas region continues with local campaigner Malcolm McKellar in discussions with electricity provider Ergon Energy.

While the battle to be upgraded from the "wobbly" 66kv system to a reliable 132kv system currently enjoyed by Port Douglas residents is yet to be won, Mr McKellar said Ergon has been more responsive than in years gone by.

"The proof of the pudding will be in the eating of course when we see what they deliver, but they're making all the right noises about the several issues we've raised with them."

Mr McKellar said the 66kv line which runs from Mareeba and currently supplies power to areas including Daintree Village, Cooya, Newell Beach, North Mossman, Miallo, Whyanbeel, Rocky Point, and Wonga has been "highly unreliable."

"They (Ergon) have acknowledged that at least half of our failures come from failures on that line, when in fact running on top of that is the big, beautiful, new 132kv feeder built to improve the supply power to the tourism industry in Port with the promise that the rest of the Shire would be put on that within a few years.

"That promise was made back in 1995."

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Ergon are putting together a business case for the upgrade which is estimated to cost up to $30 million, an investment Mr McKellar believes is justified.

"We're not uneasy about that number because we believe it has cost this community much more than that over the last 15 years through the loss of business and direct damage to equipment.

"They put a 132kv feeder all the way to Cooktown for something like 1500 residents, where there are over 7500 residents down here that need that service.

"There are plenty of precedents why this is not a big deal for them."

In an email to Mr McKellar from Geoff Bowes, Ergons' Manager for Regional Services Northern, Mr Bowes said the business case for preliminary approval was being finalised.

"We are on target for this activity and anticipate being able to provide feedback on the outcomes of the review by end of June as previously indicated," he said.

Mr McKellar said that he understands there are internal processes Ergon needs to follow for works to be undertaken, but said the community would not accept any more delays.

"They're a beauraucratic organisation and they've got a number of hurdles and processes to go through. We understand that and we're tolerant of that, but as long as they're not just leading us down the garden path with delaying tactics.

"If they come back to us at the end of June and say it will take another three months or six months or whatever, well we won't accept that.

"Everybody is pleased with their response so far, as long as we're not just getting words, we're getting action."

In the meantime, Ergon have reportedly moved to improve the reliability of the 66kv system which experienced outages as recently as last week.

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