Power and Water Corporation has reported almost three times the number of power outages over the last two months caused by wildlife, predominantly bats, compared to the five-year average for the same period.
This statistic has been attributed to the roosting bats, or flying foxes, which have been causing frequent overnight power outages in Darwin’s rural area.
“We know these power disruptions are frustrating and we are working on minimising them where we can,” Customer, Strategy and Regulation Executive General Manager Simon Vardy said.
“The majority of these outages are short, but a few may be longer, particularly where crews are required to patrol the line to restore power safely.”
Power and Water maintain a power network of more than 6,000km of overhead lines and more than 3,000km of underground cables to deliver safe and reliable power to Territorians.
Some overhead lines in Darwin’s rural area span several hundred kilometres over native bushland, farmland and mangrove swamps.
“Bats have been an ongoing problem for our network over the years and we continually upgrade infrastructure and install bat guards to deter the creatures,” Mr Vardy said.
“We believe the bats are particularly prolific due to the two consecutive poor wet seasons which have caused an abundance of flowering native trees.”
Mr Vardy said bats are an important part of our ecosystem but can also wreak havoc on the network and customers when they cluster around infrastructure, triggering a fault.
“They move around as their food sources change, so their impact is widespread across our network making it challenging to take targeted defensive action,” he said.
Each year Power and Water plan works to increase power system reliability by upgrading insulators, installing switches that reduce the number of customers impacted and assist restorations, and installing advanced monitoring systems that record power system disturbances.
“Customers who experience poor reliability may be eligible for a credit on their electricity account,” Mr Vardy said.
“We will automatically apply this through your retailer under the Guaranteed Service Levels (GSL) set out in the Electricity Industry Performance Code.”
To report hazards or damage to powerlines, people can phone Power and Water on 1800 245 090.
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