SKYROCKETING power costs and all-too-frequent blackouts are hitting the state’s horticultural industries hard, with Lenswood Co-operative chief executive officer James Walters labelling the discrepancy between SA and the eastern states “outrageous”.
“Security of supply is a huge concern,” he said.
“To be without power for three to four days causes huge disruptions for us, at a time when we’re building our export markets.
“It’s important we’re competitive because we employ 75 staff and support more than 30 families in the district. But we’ve got competition from eastern state orchards, who are paying half the usage charges that we are. It’s simply outrageous.”
Ceravolo Orchard’s Tony Ceravolo, Ashton, said his power costs had virtually doubled in the past few years, while guarantee of supply was a big issue.
“We’ve spent a lot of money with generators and have solar, so we’ve tried to prepare ourselves as best we can,” he said.
He said the investment in solar four years ago had helped keep fixed costs down, while the generator was increasingly important.
“We’ve used it more times in the past two years than in the previous 10 years,” he said.
“We really want to know, in the future, what is the guarantee we will get power stability and where are we going to be with costs in the next five years?”
SA Murray Irrigators chair Caren Martin said the ever-increasing energy prices were terrible.
“Power is only half the cost,” she said. “Network supply charges are just as onerous.”
Ms Martin said it was frustrating the channel irrigation systems of NSW and Vic were gravity-fed, so relatively power-free.
“For anyone who has pump irrigation delivery, power is a big issue,” she said.
“The innovative irrigators are getting penalised for installing more water efficient systems.”
Ms Martin said power failures were becoming more frequent, costing businesses time and money.
“Shut downs have the potential to wipe crops out, particularly if it happens on a hot day,” she said.
