• Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
  • Read Our Newspapers Online
    • Read the Latest Western Port News
    • Read the Latest Mornington News
    • Read the Latest Southern Peninsula News
    • Read the Latest Frankston Times
    • Read the Latest Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News
  • Competition
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Resident road rage over reduced speed limit
  • Steele retires, ‘Stirts’ to Seagulls
  • Pythons and Tigers all square, oh my!
  • Frankston Football Club hold a successful fair
  • Home services crisis after switch to private providers
  • Call for help after donation drop
  • True passion the source of author inspiration
  • OAM for ‘Coodabeens’ Bill Baxter
Facebook Twitter
MPNEWSMPNEWS
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
  • Competition
MPNEWSMPNEWS
Home»News»No power a pain for Mt Martha traders
News

No power a pain for Mt Martha traders

By Keith PlattJuly 25, 2019Updated:July 30, 2019No Comments3 Mins Read
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

ANGRY traders in the Mt Martha shopping strip were reeling on Thursday after United Energy cut the power from 8am-5pm.

Most of the 41 businesses were forced to close their doors and restrict staff hours on what would normally be a busy trading day.

United Energy said the outage affected 224 customers – most residential – and turned the shopping centre into a ghost town.

Mr Curtis Cafe proprietor Lyndal Barnes, who met with 25 aggrieved traders on Tuesday night, said the “fact-finding session was all about where we could go from here”.

“They [United Energy] have been dismissive of us,” she said. “The whole issue could have been better discussed with us rather than them just them deciding it by themselves.

“At this time of year when things are slow every bit of income helps.

“It is going to hurt everyone. Lots of people in hospitality are casuals and they will lose that day’s work.”

Traders were furious that the disruption was caused by the undergrounding of a section of overhead line for a customer who is building a large house on the Esplanade. United Energy would not say how much the owner was charged for the work but the rumour was $125,000-$320,000.

Ritchies’ Supermarket manager Mark Rayner said his major concern was keeping the fridges going.

Mr Rayner said Thursday was normally the supermarket’s busy market day. “No one will be here because people tend to stay away when these things happen,” he said.

No power to electrical equipment such as lights, mincer, band saw, tenderiser, slicer and scales meant Bells Gourmet Meats was only able to open 6-9am and after 5pm.

“The outage meant a loss of trade and inconvenience as we had to move staff around,” staff member Jake Joffe said. “Not having power raises work safety issues and we had to close for the day.”

NewsXpress newsagent Geoff Seymour said he was grateful Thursday was not the night of the $110 million Powerball jackpot. “It certainly would have been a panic if the jackpot hadn’t gone off [last week] and it was up to $150 million.”

Mt Martha Village Clinic had to reschedule 140 medical appointments and 37 pathology appointments on the day. It remained open to advise patients of the outage. A triage nurse was placed on standby as the nearest emergency department is at Frankston Hospital.

Mt Martha Terry Bateman Pharmacy’s David Evans said it was “negligent” of United Energy not to consult with traders on the most suitable day for the work. “It would have been better on a Sunday afternoon when very few are open,” he said.

The company’s corporate affairs manager Emma Tyner said on Thursday: “We know how inconvenient it is to be without power and when we are planning work we always look at how to minimise the impact on customers.

“Given the area is popular for tourism, we selected a weekday to minimise the impact on weekend visitors and traders.

“We appreciate that some traders are upset about the outage and sought to provide them with at least a week’s notice to allow them to organise alternative power supply, such as generators.”

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

Related Posts

Resident road rage over reduced speed limit

July 5, 2022

New CFA vehicle honours service

July 4, 2022

Jetty repair in the budget pipeline

June 27, 2022

Bus shelters vandalised

June 27, 2022
Add A Comment

Comments are closed.

Weather
Jul 6, 2022 - Wed
Mornington, Australia
13°C
clear sky
clear sky
1 m/s, NNE
56%
765.82 mmHg
wed07/06 thu07/07 fri07/08 sat07/09 sun07/10
sky is clear
13/9°C
light rain
12/11°C
light rain
11/10°C
light rain
11/9°C
sky is clear
13/9°C
Peninsula Essence Magazine

Click here to read

June 27, 2022
Peninsula Kids Magazine

Click here to read

May 26, 2022
Council Watch

Keeping watch on councillor costs

June 27, 2022

Leadership lacking for ‘neutral’ policy

June 20, 2022
Interview

True passion the source of author inspiration

July 4, 2022
Property of the Week

278 Dundas Street, Rye

May 11, 2022
100 Years Ago This Week

Frankston Football Club hold a successful fair

July 5, 2022
Contact
Street: 63 Watt Road, Mornington, 3931
Mailing: PO Box 588, Hastings, 3915
Menu
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Local History
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • About Us
  • Subscribe
  • Competition
About

Established in 2006, Mornington Peninsula News Group (MPNG) is a locally owned and operated, independent media company.

MPNG publishes five weekly community newspapers: the Western Port News, Mornington News, Southern Peninsula News, Frankston Times and Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News.

MPNG also publishes two glossy magazines: Peninsula Essence and Peninsula Kids.

Facebook Twitter
© 2022 Mornington Peninsula News Group.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.