They (government and regulators) said it couldn’t happen….Try telling that to nearly 70,000 homes and businesses who went without power in Victoria on Australia Day weekend during 40-degree heat.
How did it happen?
Victoria broke a new record for peak demand on a Sunday at 9,100 megawatts.
That peak demand played havoc with the network and blew fuses all over the place, from Geelong to Seaford.
Apparently, it wasn’t due to a supply issue caused by closing power stations without adequate back up of supply. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) advised us to expect blackouts this summer and next, so many are sceptical of the real cause.
Grocers and Milk bars lost produce.
Absenteeism was UP with people calling in sick due to no sleep. Presenteeism was even higher (people sitting at their desks staring into space).
As a CEO of an Energy company, my role is normally to listen to people’s Energy woe’s and work with them on an adequate solution. On Monday the woes were close to home. My two-year old’s day care centre called at midday on Monday, advising the power was out and for health and safety reasons, my wife or I had to collect her ASAP. Like many of you, my wife and I work full time. There were 100 other children, whose parents had to leave work to collect their children.
Blackouts aren’t great for productivity or comfortability.
First world problems, I guess?
Well, there are also first world solutions.
The much-debated TESLA battery in SA made $1,000,000 on Sunday this week as it had stored cheap power to sell back to the grid when it was a high demand time. If you’re wondering if that money went to the SA government, it didn’t. The private company that commissioned the job made allowances to sell the power itself during peak demand times.
Most of you are paying 20 to 40 cents per unit for your energy, depending on your location and usage.
Gympie Mitre 10 has taken control of ever-increasing energy costs by locking in their amortised cost of power during the day at 6 cents by installing solar.
