NSW FEELS THE PINCH OF POWER PRICES
Imagine waking up one morning to find your shower has gone cold, the lights won't switch on and the fridge has gone off, along with the food inside. A growing number of people are facing the nightmare of being disconnected from their energy supply, according to recent research from the St Vincent de Paul Society.
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The second national Households in the Dark report found that close to 200,000 households in NSW had their power cut off by energy providers in the three years from 2015 to 2018. They fell behind on their bills due to increasing prices, the effects of the ongoing drought, and household financial crises brought on by high rents and insufficient income support payments like Newstart.
At Vinnies, we are especially concerned for our regional and rural communities, where we see a greater increase in disconnections compared to cities. Of the 30 postcodes in NSW with the highest proportion of power disconnections, all but one were in regional or rural areas.
If your home is at immediate risk of being disconnected we encourage you to contact Vinnies or another local Energy Accounts Payment Assistance (EAPA) provider for assistance. The NSW Government's cost of living service can also help make sure households are receiving the assistance to which they are entitled.
Getting through the drought is hard enough without having your power cut off. We urge the energy industry and all levels of government to take lasting action to ensure regional households can keep powering on.
The full Households in the Dark report can be found at: www.vinnies.org.au/disconnections
Jack de Groot, CEO, St Vincent de Paul Society NSW
Daylight saving
Every year we have many people who complain about daylight saving and the fact of how it generally disrupts our lives. However, my complaint is that if we must have daylight saving, it should never have been changed from beginning at the end of October to the beginning of October.
Particularly in the New England area, where we are just beginning to have warmer mornings. So we all, including the elderly and young children, are cast back into colder and darker risings.
Daylight saving began in New South Wales on the 31st October, 1971. It was then changed in the year 2000, because of the Olympic Games in Sydney.
It then just continued, without any consultation with the public.
Merle Sullivan, Tamworth
Booming population
Tamworth Regional Council pencils in 2041 to hit 100,000 population.
It's incomprehensible to me that Tamworth mayor Col Murray believes water security can be improved by more people and somehow an extra 40,000 people will help. These proposed dams, even if built, will take several years to build and several more years to fill assuming above average rainfall. That's a big ask when its expected that climate change will cause lower rainfall and increase evaporation.
Water scarcity and security is something 'Big Australia' boosters don't want examined.
Keith MacLennan, Nedlands