Record crews on standby for summer storm season

In the lead up to the summer storm season, Minister for Mines and Energy Geoff Wilson has told State Parliament that Energex and Ergon are ready for action.

Mr Wilson said Energex and Ergon had increased the capacity of their networks to cope with peak demand.

“Unfortunately, some interruptions will be unavoidable. Powerlines will always be susceptible to damage from high winds and lightning strikes, but a record 1,000 Energex workers are now on standby and ready for action,” he said.

“Field crews, call centre operators and support staff are on roster now, until the end of March.

“Energex has boosted its fleet with an extra 280 trucks. 300 vehicles were also replaced in a $50 million fleet fit-out.

“I inspected the latest addition to the fleet at the Banyo depot the day I was sworn in as Minister,” he said.

The $400,000 state-of-the-art Volvo carrier was designed and built in Queensland.

“It’s virtually a one-stop shop for electricity work,” he said.

The Minister said Energex was spending more than $2 million a day on upgrades and maintenance of south east Queensland’s electricity network.

In the past few months, Energex has conducted helicopter patrols to monitor vegetation around overhead power lines. It spends $1 million a week on vegetation management in the south east corner.

The Minister said Energex was also on track to install extra electricity capacity across the south east for the summer.

“It’s the equivalent of the entire power use for Gold Coast city on a normal spring day,” he said.

A record $300 million has been allocated by Energex for extra electricity capacity and to carry out capital works improvements and maintenance across the network.

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