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Speaker 1: Joining us live in the studio, as he's done every

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Speaker 1: day this week. Mike Besselink, executive general manager of corp

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Speaker 1: Operations from Power and Water. Good morning to you, Mike.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and thanks for having me again.

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Speaker 1: Oh my, we are happy to have you on the show.

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Speaker 1: And I tell you what, I was a very happy

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Speaker 1: person yesterday when my power came back on. I know

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Speaker 1: that Power and Water doing an awesome job at getting

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Speaker 1: as many customers as possible back online. How many have

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Speaker 1: now been restored?

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Speaker 3: Well, at the moment, we've got about fourteen hundred customers

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Speaker 3: who are still off supply, so from the nineteen and

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Speaker 3: a half thousand that we had at the beginning of

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Speaker 3: the week, it's been an awesome effort by the entire

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Speaker 3: team to get there. I think also, Katie, just to

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Speaker 3: sort of reiterate our process in this, is that after

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Speaker 3: we actually after the storm subsided and we could get out,

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Speaker 3: as we've been telling people, we had to go out

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Speaker 3: and have a look and see what damage was done

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Speaker 3: in order to work out where we had to put

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Speaker 3: our restoration efforts. The first phase of that then is

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Speaker 3: to actually get the main supplies back on.

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Speaker 2: So this is the sort of.

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Speaker 3: If you remember my analogy, it's the extension lead getting

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Speaker 3: that powered up back to the appliances in the backyard.

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Speaker 3: But that was phase one. Phase two is then getting

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Speaker 3: as much of the low voltage network as we can on.

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Speaker 3: So that comes from that high voltage to the low

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Speaker 3: voltage network, and we've now transitioned to phase three, which

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Speaker 3: is there are a number of individual customers who have

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Speaker 3: got damage to their premises which we need to start

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Speaker 3: to have a look at. We still have two jobs

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Speaker 3: that were actually doing which are what we could call

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Speaker 3: major construction jobs, so they're at Gunpoint and Lee Point Road.

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Speaker 3: But those two we should have finished today, so that

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Speaker 3: will be all of the major infrastructure stuff finished.

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Speaker 1: So, Mike, to anybody out there listening this morning who

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Speaker 1: maybe still doesn't have their power on, we're talking houses

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Speaker 1: that were like mine where they had a line, you know,

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Speaker 1: that runs from the actual power water infrastructure, so the

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Speaker 1: power water lines to their house, and that line came

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Speaker 1: down or was damaged. What steps do they need to

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Speaker 1: take to make sure that when power and water comes around,

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Speaker 1: that power can go straight back on. Because I know

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Speaker 1: that that's sort of really important.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, So I think so while we've got the power

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Speaker 3: running down the street. It's coming from those lines to

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Speaker 3: your house. There's a couple of things that can have

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Speaker 3: gone wrong there. One is is that that line could

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Speaker 3: have been damaged with a tree falling over, but it

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Speaker 3: also could have some damage within the property itself if

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Speaker 3: there was some electrical problem when the line happened. From

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Speaker 3: where we are, we will be able to replace the

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Speaker 3: line from the pole to your house. Now as long

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Speaker 3: as the connection at the house is safe. Now, if

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Speaker 3: that is damaged in any way, and we do want

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Speaker 3: people to go out and have a little and see

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Speaker 3: if there's any damage to that connection, which we call

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Speaker 3: the mains connection box or MCB they call it. It's

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Speaker 3: where the line comes over and hooks on and the

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Speaker 3: wires go in for your house. If that is damaged

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Speaker 3: in any way, we cannot connect the power because it

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Speaker 3: will be unsafe. You will be required to get an electrician,

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Speaker 3: a Northern Territory licensed electrician, to repair that damage first,

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Speaker 3: and they will supply the householder with a certificate of compliance. Now,

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Speaker 3: there are two ways that happens. One is they register

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Speaker 3: it with NT work Safe and electronically comes through to us.

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Speaker 3: There is potentially that some people will issue that as

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Speaker 3: a piece of paper and if you've got that, you

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Speaker 3: put it in your meter box so you know where

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Speaker 3: it is. So when our people come around, they've actually

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Speaker 3: got that certificate of compliance.

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Speaker 1: And I did all that. We made sure that we'd

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Speaker 1: done all that on Sunday because I knew that that

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Speaker 1: was going to need to happen post the last cyclone

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Speaker 1: we had Marcus, when somebody up the road sort of

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Speaker 1: didn't and it meant that for some reason, powers stayed

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Speaker 1: off for quite a long period of time. So to

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Speaker 1: anybody out there listening this morning, I know, if your

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Speaker 1: powers back on, you may not care too much, but

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Speaker 1: I tell you what, if your power is still off,

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Speaker 1: you want to make sure that when those crews come around,

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Speaker 1: you've done everything that you need to so that you

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Speaker 1: can get the power back on.

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Speaker 3: There would be nothing worse, I understand. And if a

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Speaker 3: crew turns up and they tell you that they cannot

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Speaker 3: connect because it's not safe to do so, that would

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Speaker 3: just be a horrible feeling for everybody, including our crews,

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Speaker 3: because they don't want to be anything and then have

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Speaker 3: to say sorry, I'm not going to put you back

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Speaker 3: onto power.

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Speaker 2: So really it is very, very.

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Speaker 3: Important that those steps are done and we have those

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Speaker 3: things that we can connect.

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Speaker 2: When we get help.

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Speaker 1: And if anybody's listening this morning and they're you know,

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Speaker 1: they need a bit more advice, they can call through

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Speaker 1: to Power and water. I would imagine that the number

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Speaker 1: of calls coming through is probably minimized significantly over the

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Speaker 1: last couple of days as everybody comes online.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and it is important because as we've been restoring power,

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Speaker 3: people may have rung in early to say I haven't

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Speaker 3: power on, and that would have been because the whole area,

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Speaker 3: the whole street, the whole suburb didn't have power on.

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Speaker 3: As that's restored, we still need to know if there

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Speaker 3: are individuals who don't have power. So don't be shy

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Speaker 3: to ring in again to say I haven't got my

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Speaker 3: power on, because that's you know, we don't want it

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Speaker 3: to have been lost in the bulk of the earlier one.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So, Mike, fourteen hundred people without power, Still, how

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Speaker 1: soon do you reckon they're going to be back online?

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Speaker 3: So look, it's going to depend a little bit on

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Speaker 3: you know, how things are going with other people. Where

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Speaker 3: As people probably know we've been working shift crews twenty

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Speaker 3: four hours to do these things. You know, there's some

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Speaker 3: jobs that are quick where it might be that we

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Speaker 3: just need to put some fuses back in or do

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Speaker 3: some things like that. Some are a little bit more complex,

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Speaker 3: so it's going to depend a little bit on the

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Speaker 3: time of the jobs. So look, we're pushing as hard

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Speaker 3: as we can to get these on as quickly as

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Speaker 3: we possibly can.

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Speaker 1: And you've got your crews here from Catherine Well, I

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Speaker 1: met a few of them yesterday. Shout out to the

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Speaker 1: Ktown crew, but you've also got some from Tenant Creek

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Speaker 1: as I understand it, and also Alice Springs.

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Speaker 3: US Springs, Yeah, and unfortunately Alice Springs yesterday I had

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Speaker 3: a few little yeah storms through it of their own,

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Speaker 3: but they got through all of those things themselves. So

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Speaker 3: we were thinking for a little time that we both

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Speaker 3: have to go and rescue.

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Speaker 2: Them as well, but luckily not. Luckily not.

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Speaker 1: Hey, Mike, tell me, I know, one of the big

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Speaker 1: questions we're getting at the moment. I don't know whether

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Speaker 1: it's something that you can answer or whether we need

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Speaker 1: to go to the government. But in the information that

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Speaker 1: came out yesterday about people potentially receiving that two hundred

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Speaker 1: and fifty dollars if their power has been out for

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Speaker 1: more than seventy two hours. As I understand, they've been

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Speaker 1: told that if they go out to Marara, out to

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Speaker 1: the center out there, they have to sort of be

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Speaker 1: able to say, yes, my power's been out for seventy

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Speaker 1: two hours, and then they've got to provide that confirmation

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Speaker 1: of the outage and then power and water will vary.

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Speaker 1: How does that happen?

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Speaker 3: Well, so we've actually gone through looking at the lists

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Speaker 3: of people and when power has come back on again.

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Speaker 2: So we've had a look through those.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's a little bit difficult to say when

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Speaker 3: the actual power went off because it could be in

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Speaker 3: a whole range, but we know when it's come back on,

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Speaker 3: so we can sort of see from when things sort

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Speaker 3: of started happening to when it's come back on. Does

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Speaker 3: that equal seventy two hours or not or greater. So

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Speaker 3: we've got people out there at the moment who have

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Speaker 3: got these lists, and look, if anybody's in a position

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Speaker 3: where they say, look, I don't agree with you, just

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Speaker 3: let us know and then we can have another look

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Speaker 3: through all those sorts of things.

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Speaker 1: So I've go front up out there to the Marari

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Speaker 1: Indoors Stadium at the moment, power and waters, they're going

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Speaker 1: to be able to get that info straight away.

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Speaker 3: Yes, so we've got people out there. They've got lists

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Speaker 3: of people or lists of outages and sort of the

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Speaker 3: seventy two hour times that we've estimated out there. So yeah,

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Speaker 3: so there's people there and we've got there in every

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Speaker 3: half an hour to say.

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Speaker 2: Whether we need more people or not or whatever.

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Speaker 3: So if if it does get very busy out there,

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Speaker 3: we'll get some more people out there to help.

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Speaker 1: Do you know if that payment is per person or

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Speaker 1: per household?

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Speaker 2: Look, I'm not going it's right, we can one. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 2: that's right. We can find out.

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Speaker 1: We'll ask the government that what I just thought you

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Speaker 1: may have you may have known off the top of

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Speaker 1: your head. That is a okay, Mike, tell me how

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Speaker 1: the staff tracking at the moment, because I would imagine

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Speaker 1: it's been a bloody busy few days and some of

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Speaker 1: them may not have power either.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and look, we still have some people who don't

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Speaker 3: have power. They're busily waiting for their time to get

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Speaker 3: happening as well. But look all around the office, their

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Speaker 3: smiley faces. I think the people are just really pleased

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Speaker 3: whenever they can get another person back on supply. They

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Speaker 3: know what it's like. This is what they live and breath, Katie.

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Speaker 3: They are there to get the power out to people

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Speaker 3: and make sure that they got electricity. They love their job,

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Speaker 3: they know their job. This is the sort of stuff

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Speaker 3: that they do.

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Speaker 2: Good on them.

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Speaker 1: I know it's been a massive effort, you know, as

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Speaker 1: somebody who I know thinks she'd been working in the

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Speaker 1: call center, you know, when she doesn't work there usually

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Speaker 1: to help out, and that's something that people are doing,

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Speaker 1: you know, everybody pulling up their sleeves and trying to

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Speaker 1: help each other to try and help as many people

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Speaker 1: as possible to get that power back on. So look,

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Speaker 1: I know it's been probably a tough few days for

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Speaker 1: you as well. I really appreciate that you continue to

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Speaker 1: front up every day and tell us what's going on,

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Speaker 1: despite the fact that you are no doubt busy as

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Speaker 1: so we'll keep catching up with you probably till everyone's

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Speaker 1: got their power on. Mike.

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Speaker 2: That's lovely to be here, and thank you again, Kadie.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, I really appreciate it. Thanks so much.

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Speaker 2: Mike,