Residents in Kiama – particularly in Bombo and Kiama Downs – have been grappling with persistent power outages over the past 12 months, and frustrations are mounting.

The Kiama Community Facebook page has been flooded with complaints about the ongoing disruptions (to the point of admins banning posts related to power outages). For long-time resident Eric McCauley, the situation has reached a tipping point.

“I came home a couple of months ago and couldn’t get into the driveway because power lines were down across it,” McCauley said.

“That was caused by a fault that blew the cables in several places – one here at Bombo on Hutchison Street, and another one apparently down in Kiama. Then, just a few weeks ago, a power pole in front of Cleary Brothers exploded and knocked out the cables, leaving us without power again.”

According to McCauley, he went down and spoke to technicians who informed him that there are 11 unresolved faults in the network between Kiama Downs and Bombo.

In March, The Bugle spoke with Peter Payne, News Editor at Endeavour Energy, who investigated the claims. 

While Payne acknowledged that every power network experiences issues, he pushed back against the suggestion of widespread unresolved faults.

“I wouldn’t call them defects. It’s just part of ongoing maintenance,” he said. “Think of it like this: you’ve got a flat tyre and the spare is on, but the flat one hasn’t been fixed yet. We’ve repaired part of the network and it’s functioning properly.”

Payne also emphasised that the area complies with NSW government regulations and that other parts of the state are dealing with more severe issues due to extreme weather.

“There are areas where outage statistics are much higher,” he said. “For example, there’s a feeder line running up to Colo Heights that’s storm-prone and regularly affected.”

In April, Kiama resident Patrick Weaver received a written response from Endeavour Energy acknowledging that the company’s reliability engineers had further investigated the network and found the presence of defective switches in the overhead network.

The response stated: “Our reliability engineers found a number of defective switches in the Kiama area that need replacing. These switches have been acting intermittently and/or failing due to age and corrosion caused by prevailing coastal conditions.

“As a result, when a fault occurs in one part of the network, we’ve been unable to reroute electricity to maintain supply. This has led to larger and more prolonged outages than would typically occur.”

Endeavour Energy confirmed that repair works were scheduled throughout April, with plans to complete upgrades by mid-May.

“During this time, there remains a risk of further outages,” the response read. “We are doing everything we can to minimise the impact. Once the repairs are complete, we’re confident residents will see a significant improvement in reliability.”

Kiama MP Gareth Ward has also raised concerns with Endeavour Energy and received the same update.

He assured residents that his office will continue to keep an eye on the situation and encouraged those experiencing further issues to reach out.

“My office will keep monitoring these repairs,” Ward said. “Please continue to report any further power issues to me. I’ll keep advocating for a reliable network for our community.”