New Electricity System For Ninga Mia Aborginal Community
Release Date: 05 August 2009
The Ninga Mia Aboriginal community near Kalgoorlie will benefit from improved electricity supplies as a result of recent upgrades to their electricity network and the installation of pre-payment meters.
The Project was undertaken jointly by three of the State's electricity providers, Horizon Power, Western Power and Synergy, and will ensure Ninga Mia residents have a safe and reliable power supply to the same standard as those experienced in Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
The community now has an underground electricity distribution network and each dwelling has had an internal house wiring safety upgrade. A direct retail arrangement was established with each premise through the installation of pre-payment meters that allow each household to manage their electricity consumption individually, rather than contributing to pay one electricity account for the whole community.
Members of the community were also provided with information on electrical safety, available rebates, reporting faults and using the pre-payment meter system. In addition, energy efficiency audits were conducted in each house providing residents with awareness on energy consumption of appliances and energy saving opportunities.
Energy Minister Hon Peter Collier MLC said the collaborative approach and extensive consultation with the Ninga Mia community allowed a large volume of work to be completed in a short period of time.
"The Project was unique as it involved multiple utility agencies working collaboratively to ultimately deliver improved electricity supplies for some 50 members of the community," he said.
"The close relationship with the community and sheer dedication by all those involved ensured the Project was completed in six weeks. This was a great achievement given the volume of work that needed to be undertaken."
"Ultimately, this ensured the best possible outcomes were delivered and the community could start benefiting from the work in a timely manner," said Mr Collier.
John Mason from the Goldfields Indigenous Housing Organisation that undertakes tenancy management within Ninga Mia has spoken of the positive communication approach with the community.
"Overall, a well planned and executed Project with every effort having been made to ensure that all stakeholders were kept informed of strategic planning for implementation of the project," he said.
Horizon Power was responsible for the overall project management using its experience in improving electricity infrastructure in Aboriginal remote communities across Western Australia. This included providing advice to other project partners, managing contractors who undertook the internal house wiring, communication with stakeholders, partnering with Synergy to provide community education and providing assistance to Western Power to facilitate ongoing management of the network.
Western Power was responsible for the scope of works, design of the network, engaging contractors to build the underground electricity network and ultimately take over ownership and management responsibility for the electricity network.
Synergy was responsible for the retail component of the project including collecting customer data, activating meters and educating the community.
The regularisation of electricity supplies at Ninga Mia is part of Phase Two of the Town Reserves Regularisation Project that is funded by Department of Housing. It aims to improve access by 13 town-based Aboriginal communities to equitable water, sewer and power services provided by State utilities. Phase One of the Project involved 11 communities and the electricity works were completed in 2007.
Contact us
If you have any questions regarding this media release please email us: media@westernpower.com.au
