Ergon, State and Council pass buck on Daintree power
Ergon, State and Council pass buck on Daintree power
Friday November 21 2014, 2:30pm
The State Government, the council and Ergon Energy are all passing the buck back and forth on the issue of supplying power to communities north of the Daintree River.
The issue has leapt back into focus after comments by Federal Member for Leichhardt Warren Entsch last week, with Douglas Shire Council deciding to demand immediate action on the issue from the State Government.
Member for Cook David Kempton, however, pointed to electricity provider Ergon Energy, saying it was ‘their sole responsibility’ to get power to rural communities in Queensland.
“It is the sole responsibility of Ergon Energy to provide power outside of urban areas,” Mr Kempton said.
However Ergon has said it has no such responsibility to provide power to the Daintree.
“As a distribution entity under the Electricity Act 1994 (the Act) , Ergon Energy Corporation Limited (Ergon Energy) has a connection obligation, subject to some exclusions, to customers who own or occupy premises within the area covered by its Distribution Authority,” an Ergon spokesperson said in an email.
“As the Daintree region is excluded from Ergon Energy’s Distribution Authority, and therefore its distribution area, Ergon Energy does not have an obligation to provide connection services in that area.
“In terms of a stand-alone supply, there is no regulatory obligation to provide this option to customers in the Daintree region.”
Despite this, Ergon said there nothing in the Act that prevented it from it providing stand-alone power to the region, with David Kempton saying that the energy provider and the State Government were looking into diesel power generators as the most likely option.
“The cost of providing mains power across the river is prohibitive,” Mr Kempton said.
“Right now we are looking at several options, the best of which is diesel generators.
“In my view, we are not stalled, we’re looking at the best options.”
Mr Kempton also mentioned that the Federal Government could be willing to help offset the costs of developing electricity infrastructure within the World Heritage-listed Daintree forest.