$10 million plus power boost for Ipswich City homes and businesses

Work is underway on a $10 million-plus upgrade to electricity supplies which will double the available power capacity for more than 6500 homes and businesses in Ipswich City’s southern suburbs.

Minister for Mines and Energy Geoff Wilson said work included the installation of a second transformer at the Ipswich South substation.

“Energex will undertake a range of upgrades to underground and overhead powerlines in the area,” Mr Wilson said.

“Ipswich City is one of the fastest growing parts of Energex’s distribution area.

“There are dozens of new houses, units and commercial premises connecting to the local electricity network every week,” he said.

Member for Ipswich Rachel Nolan said Energex was investing to improve the electricity network in the company’s Western regional area.

“More than $40 million has been allocated to various upgrades in the last financial year,” Ms Nolan said.

“This expenditure follows more than $32 million invested in the area in 2005/06.

“And there is no question that the areas around the city’s southern suburbs are surging with local power demand increasing at rates above regional and national averages,” she said.

Ms Nolan said work to double the capacity of the substation in Huxham Street would take place in the coming months.

“Staged works to upgrade to local electricity supplies will occur in areas including Huxham and Harvey streets, Warwick and Deebing Creek roads and Equestrian and Cowley drives.

“Energex will take all reasonable measures to reduce inconvenience to the community and thanks residents and motorists in advance for their cooperation and understanding during this important upgrade to the local electricity network,” she said.

Once completed, the upgraded substation and improved local supply network will not only improve existing electricity capacity and supplies, but will provide Energex technicians more switching options to restore power faster after unexpected damage to the network caused by storms, wild weather, vehicles hitting power poles or underground cables being accidentally damaged.

Areas to benefit from the upgrade include Raceview, Churchill, Loamside, Eastern Heights, Ipswich, Flinders View, Ripley, Deebing Heights, Yamanto, South Ripley, Amberley, Purga and Swanbank.

The project is part of a record $4 billion-plus five-year capital expenditure program currently being undertaken by Energex.

The funding forms part of the $11.2 billion of infrastructure identified for the Western Corridor in the recent SEQ Infrastructure Plan. On top of the energy spending, the government is extending the Centenary Highway to Yamanto, extending the rail network and building a new courthouse in the Ipswich CBD.

Energex is one of Australia’s largest and fastest-growing corporations with more than 3900 staff working in a range of roles to supply electricity to a population of around 2.8 million people in South East Queensland.

The company continues to connect new homes and businesses at a record rate with an average of more than 150 additional customers linking to the South East Queensland electricity network every working day.

In the 2007-08 financial year Energex is investing $827 million on upgrades to its electricity network while a further $293 million has been set aside to maintain and operate the network – that’s an overall average of more than $3 million a day.

Energex has a strong focus on installing new electricity lines underground where practical. In the last five years Energex has installed almost 3800 km of new underground electricity cable in South East Queensland – equivalent to the distance between Brisbane and Perth.

The company’s South East Queensland distribution area of 25,000 square kilometres includes more than 50,000km of underground and overhead electricity lines and cables, over 600,000 power poles, some 42,000 transformers and more than 295,000 street lights.

Media inquiries: Brooke Johnson (07) 3224 7332