People invited to make submissions for the inquiry

The Committee on Environment and Planning is inquiring into the major electricity outages in the Far West region of New South Wales in October 2024. 

The Committee adopted the inquiry on Thursday, November 21, 2024, following a referral from the Minister for Energy, The Honourable Penny Sharpe MLC.

On October 17, 2024, a storm severely impacted power supplies to Broken Hill and towns in the Far West of NSW, including Menindee, Silverton, Tibooburra, White Cliffs, and Wilcannia. 

In the period from October 17 to 31, 2024, impacted communities in the Far West experienced major electricity outages.

This had multifaceted and far-reaching impacts on people’s lives and circumstances.

The Inquiry will consider the preparation and mitigation strategies in place by electricity providers in Far West NSW in the event of a major electricity outage, the overall effectiveness of these strategies, the role of relevant NSW Government agencies and local government in preparing for and responding to major electricity outages, the implementation of recommendations from previous electricity outages in Far West NSW. 

It will investigate recommendations on future alternative power supply emergency response and effective redundancy, and the effectiveness of providers' communications strategies regarding electricity outages and responses.

Interested and affected parties are invited to make submissions to the inquiry by Monday, February 10, 2025. 

To make a submission, visit https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/committees/inquiries/Pages/inquiry-details