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Questions Without Notice Questions without notice are asked of Ministers and answered during Question Time.
Question asked Wednesday 19 April 2006
Mr LAWLOR: My question is directed to the Minister for Energy and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy. I read an article in the Courier-Mail on 12 April that talked about delays by
Energex in getting customers reconnected. It also quoted the deputy opposition leader as saying that the electricity system was not being fixed and that some projects had been delayed. Could the minister please advise the House of the facts relating to these matters?
Mr MICKEL: I thank the member for Southport. In a week when the electricity workers from across Queensland have had to deal with issues such as this after Cyclone Larry's devastation, one would think that people right across Queensland and their political representatives would be in full support of the work of the electricity workers. Let me say that those on this side of the House certainly are. The member is right to question the article because it contains some misleading information that needs to be clarified and, indeed, corrected. The article stated that figures contained in the Queensland Competition Authority's 2004-05 report highlight that restoration times for interruptions to power supply were longer in 2004-05 than the 2003-04 period. Quite simply, as this report shows, that is not the case.
Energex customers are not waiting longer to have their power restored after an electricity interruption. The information has been misconstrued. It is important to understand that, at the request of the QCA, the data collection models changed during 2004-05, effectively making year-to-year comparisons
irrelevant. Despite that, the QCA clearly states on page 12 of its report-
After adjustment for the different basis of determining customer numbers, the reliability performance in 2004-05 was still a significant improvement on 2003-04.
The QCA actually acknowledged that restoration times improved, a point that seemed to be lost in the article. What also surprised me, as I said, was the criticism by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. He outlined 17 projects considered to be behind schedule. The article highlighted seven Energex capital works projects which had been delayed from their original projected time lines. What the Deputy Leader of the Opposition failed to acknowledge was that Energex actually advanced the timing of major project works at Sandgate, Stafford, Carindale, Upper Mount Gravatt, Archerfield and Rocklea while major projects at Varsity Lakes, Cooroy, Moggill and Bundamba were completed ahead of schedule. Theprojects were reprioritised according to need. Some were brought forward and some were moved backdepending, as I said, on their priority. I might add that a total of 54 major projects were completed byEnergex prior to 31 December last year, an amazing effort that added a massive amount of additional capacity to the electricity network prior to summer. I applaud the efforts of Energex in achieving that outcome.
Last changed: [PUBLISHED_DATE] at 12:53 PM
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