The relief package for those impacted includes:
- doubling Western Power’s Extended Outage Payment from $80 to $160 for customers impacted by an outage or outages collectively exceeding 12 hours;
- waiving fees related to network connections and reconnections for people whose properties were destroyed;
- reconnecting electricity for existing customers and replacing damaged meters free-of-charge;
- waiving the cost of establishing a temporary builder supply, up to $555, for residents whose property has been destroyed;
- waiving supply and abolishment fees for meters at properties who may be candidates for alternative solutions (such as stand-alone power systems);
- Synergy and Water Corporation to pause collection activities for overdue and outstanding accounts;
- customers with water meter damage will have their meter replaced at no cost;
- customers who have lost their property will have existing and new charges waived, in addition to the waiving of water service charges (until 2022), building application fees and any service connection or disconnection fees;
- a major fixture waiver will be applied to impacted businesses for two water billing cycles and additional support extended to those indirectly impacted – landlords and property managers should ensure the waiver is passed onto their tenants;
- all Kalbarri and Northampton customers will automatically receive a 50,000 litre water use allowance, have service charges waived for 12 months and receive additional billing support as required.
Around 31,800 homes and businesses were affected by the storm damage in the Mid-West and Wheatbelt regions.
The cyclone’s damage, which was 700 kilometres long and 150 kilometres wide, affected 20 per cent of Western Power’s network – the equivalence is larger than Tasmania. Several hundred power poles, feeders and other electrical infrastructure were damaged.
For more information on the Extended Outage Payment, visit https://www.westernpower.com.au/faults-outages/make-a-claim/extended-outage
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