Far West NSW community members grapple with continual power outages

Another emergency meeting as the first signs of stable power come to a region besieged by outages. “There are no customers without power in the far west region of New South Wales” “Essential Energy and TransGrid are not planning any outages in the next 48 hours and the main backup generation generator is operational.” Welcome news for locals after wild storms ripped through the region, knocking over seven transmission towers and cutting power for around two days. The region's two back-up generators proving unreliable leaving homes without steady power for the last week-and-a-half. “If we have no blackouts, we can all start to rest a little bit, but until we actually see that over those few days, I can understand the angst in the community” “Again acknowledge the community of Broken Hill and the surrounding towns for their ongoing patience during this time. We sincerely apologise.” Power crews are continuing to install back-up generators. While energy company AGL has integrated a battery into the local network. Network operator Transgrid says its working around the clock' to connect the region back to the main grid by November 6. “The first tower, has been erected, and all our guy anchors are complete, allowing the rest of the transmission lines to be erected in the coming days” As an independent tribunal begins to investigate Transgrid over the widespread problems the state government is setting up support centres to open this week. “It provides face to face support and resources for residents, for to help residents and businesses recover. That's also where the food support, both vouchers and hampers, will start to be available.” Flickers of hope for residents and businesses who are still being urged to conserve energy in the weeks ahead.