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Wednesday, February 12, 2025
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RIGHT AT HOME
Father and son John and Paddy McNamara have found themselves back at the same school again - this time as colleagues. ■ Story page 2
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BLACKOUT PAIN
KING Valley residents and businesses endured a frustrating time last week, with multiple power outages of varying lengths disrupting everyday lives and livelihoods. Most had four outages in just six days varying in lengths from four to 14 hours at a time, with no indication of the cause or when the fault would be fixed, despite repeatedly contacting energy network
Multiple power outages cause chaos in King Valley BY ANITA McPHERSON
amcpherson@ nemedia.com.au
AusNet Services or accessing its outage tracker. It comes as the King Valley enters vintage season, with reports a number of local wineries lost power while grapes were being
processed, throwing their schedules into disarray. While occasional outages are common during storms and adverse weather events, it’s believed to be the first time the power has gone out up to five times for some in six days. King Valley Tourism Association president Karen Barber said she’d been in contact with multiple
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businesses who had been affected including shops, wineries, brewers and accommodation providers. She said while some have generators to provide back-up electricity, many smaller operators did not, with retailers losing stock due to lack of refrigeration and some hospitality venues having to close.
“Some of the accommodation providers rely on power for running water, and some had unhappy guests who had booked powered sites, so they had to provide refunds,” she said. “We understand that there are parts of the country dealing with floods and other extreme weather events - and a power outage might seem trivial - but
four times in six days with a loss of income, food, phone and internet disruption, causes a lot of anxiety.” After reaching out to locals and discovering the extent of their frustration, Ms Barber said many decided they needed to contact their state and federal government representatives in the hope of getting answers and rectification. ■ Continued page 3 ■ Further story page 10
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