Farmers and Western Power agree to work together
Release Date: 29 August 2008
Farmers across the southern half of WA have informed Western Power of standards they would like in a policy that will guide staff and contractors when entering their properties for inspection, maintenance and repairs of infrastructure.
Western Power recently held fifteen "Working Together" forums across the regional network during the month of August to hear from farmers, Shires, Government Departments and community members of the issues that they rate highly when they deal with Western Power.
Western Power's Approvals & Development Manager, Ian Buchanan said the new policy will provide a framework to improve Western Power relationships with farmers and will set clear standards and guidelines on what they can expect from their interactions with Western Power.
It will also outline how landowners can assist Western Power to meet its obligations to ensure that safe and adequate power supplies are maintained.
"We are really pleased with the outcome of the workshops and the information we received during them which showed that farmers rate bio-security and notification before and after entering properties as very important,"
"Western Power has over 720,000 poles in the south west of the state, in over 65,000 individual plots of land, and with ongoing maintenance and upgrade programs, and work to respond to storm and other damage, Western power frequently enters rural properties", he said.
In addition to growing maintenance and upgrade programs, Western Power's network is expanding and it expects there will be greater impact on rural communities as new lines are constructed.
"The growth in WA's economy is driving a significant increase in Western Power's workload and this policy will provide an important guideline for our growing workforce and growing contractor base that interact with farmers."
Workshops were held in 15 locations stretching from Mount Barker to Geraldton.
The data collected will now be summarised and used in the development of the Working Together Policy.
Contact us
If you have any questions regarding this media release please email us: media@westernpower.com.au
