Tasmanian Government rejects Basslink's 'no-cause' finding on cable fault
Updated
The Tasmanian Government continues to reject Basslink's assertion that a crucial fault in its undersea electricity cable was a "force majeure" event.
The cable linking Tasmania to Victoria shut down for six months from December 2015 due to a rupture in the cable the size of a thumb.
The outage pitched Basslink into dispute with its only customer Hydro Tasmania, which disagreed with the cable owner's claim the fault was a "force majeure" event.
While the cable was down, an extended rain shortage saw the state's dams fall to record low levels, throwing the state into an unprecedented energy crisis with no ability to import power from the mainland.
Hydro Tasmania stopped paying Basslink the multi-million-dollar facility fee to use the cable, adding another chapter to a strained relationship between the two companies.
Today, Basslink produced an independent report on the cable failure which was unable to find a precise cause of the fault.
Basslink claimed this verified the failure as a "force majeure" event, or unavoidable catastrophe, and asked Hydro Tasmania to resume paying usage fees for the cable immediately.
"We have provided the report in its entirety to Hydro Tasmania and the Tasmanian Government and trust it will provide them with sufficient expert evidence to accept that the fault was a force majeure event," chief executive Malcolm Eccles said in a statement.
"Given this, we would like Hydro Tasmania to recommence meeting its contractual obligations to Basslink immediately."
Basslink said there was no evidence of pre-existing mechanical damage, and the cable had been operating within its thermal rating.
But Energy Minister Matthew Groom said the Government did not accept such an unresolved finding.
"We believe Tasmanians have got a right to know everything possible when it comes to the fault," he said.
With the Government holding that position, the dispute appears bound for arbitration.
Hydro makes 'good faith' payment
Hydro Tasmania said while it would make its own assessment of the report, it had offered Basslink Pty Ltd (BPL) a "good faith" payment to keep discussions open.
"Now that it has been provided with the reports … Hydro Tasmania will carefully consider all of the technical material and make its own assessment," it said.
"Hydro Tasmania has offered a good faith payment to BPL today, to facilitate continued discussions to resolve outstanding matters."
Hydro said the matter did not have a bearing on Tasmania's energy security, which was bolstered by dam storages being at 45 per cent.
Cable won't be switched off: Basslink
Opposition Leader Bryan Green said it was a risky strategy for Hydro to stop paying Basslink the usage fees.
"There's a risk they'll turn it off — if you don't pay for a service people aren't going to continue to provide the service," he said.
However, Basslink chief executive Malcolm Eccles said the company had no intention of "turning off" the cable if commercial negotiations deteriorated with Hydro.
"We've got a long-term contract here that we intend to fulfil, we've got an asset than can easily go beyond its 40-year design life," he said.
Mr Eccles said outside the fault area, the cable's condition was "superb".
Topics: electricity-energy-and-utilities, tas
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