Busselton resident fed up with Western Power quote wait time holding up subdivision construction

A South West family are fed up with the wait time of receiving a quote from Western Power which is stopping them from beginning construction of their subdivided lot near Busselton. The Slee family bought a 1600sqm block of land in July last year with the intention of living in the existing house and subdividing the empty space beside it. Despite having the water and waste systems connected months ago and submitting applications in January, the family are still being forced to wait for their power to be connected. The actual build of the house is only expected to take only eight months yet they are still waiting to lay a single brick down. Busselton dietitian Emma Slee said she and her husband Ben had been told for every month the build was delayed, it would cost up to $20,000 more. “It’s just frustrating we haven’t subdivided before, we had no idea how long it would take to subdivide and the people that we were liaising with they originally told us Western Power would take three months to do,” she said. “I think this is just very abnormal but it’s more just the financial impact of holding on to land and then the cost of housing is going up every month.” Western Power’s website says for properties other than large multi-lot blocks the estimated time frame is three months for a technical assessment, between four and six months for a design and quote depending on the complexity of the project and a further three months to construct upon payment of the quote. After being contacted by the office of WA Liberals leader Libby Mettam, Mrs Slee was given a small win in August with Western Power confirming it would now be given planning approval once the quote was paid for, rather than them having to wait until installation was complete. But at that stage they believed a quotation would be imminent in September before being told more recently the quote would be available in December. Now, following inquiries by the Times on Tuesday morning, Mrs Slee was informed on that afternoon she would get a quote by the end of September, rather than the previously forecast December. A Western Power spokesperson said the organisation had run into complexities with the project. “Western Power has been prioritising Mrs Slee’s design, and we have spoken to Mrs Slee this week to inform her that a quote will be issued by the end of September,” they said. “Project time frames vary depending on the complexity of the project, application type and the response times of other third-party approvals required. “During the design of this project some technical, network complexities were identified (low voltage constraints) that required network augmentation. “This resulted in additional design work that increased the time required to finalise the quote. We have been in regular contact with the customer.” After Ms Mettam raised the Slees’ experience alongside two others in a parliamentary grievance on August 8, Energy Minister Reece Whitby said he was “very keen to follow up on them“. Ms Mettam told the Times on Tuesday the delay was unacceptable given the State was in a housing crisis. “The unacceptable delays to the build have had very significant financial implications for Mr & Mrs Slee, causing them unnecessary angst,” she said. “We are in a housing crisis and the minister should be pulling out all the stops to resolve the unacceptable delays customers are experiencing. “Sewage and water connections have been completed but Western Power has held up this build by a year. “It is time the Cook Labor government woke up and listened to West Australians.” Mr Whitby confirmed to the Times his office had followed the case up and he was “very pleased” to see the timeline had accelerated. “My office asked Western Power to examine Emma Slee’s concerns after they were raised in Parliament last month,” he said. “I understand she will be issued with a quote by the end of September, which I’m very pleased to hear. “We know more people than ever before want to live in and build their own home in Western Australia, as evidenced by Western Power’s annual rate of customer connection applications nearly doubling from about 3000 before the pandemic to almost 5500 in the 2023-24 financial year.” Mr Whitby pointed to a range of factors for the wait times including material shortages and a competitive jobs market for specialist engineers. He said work was being done within Western Power to speed up the process. “In response to these challenges, Western Power has doubled the size of its specialist engineering team, increased design outsourcing to deal with its application backlog, and increased its stock holdings so that materials are on hand as soon as an application to connect is made,” he said. “Western Power has also invested $10 million in a new customer portal, which allows customers to fully understand the connections process and be aware of the information they must provide to facilitate the timely connection of their project.” The Western Power spokesperson added the organisation was now seeing reduced time frames for design completion and expected the improvements to continue throughout the remainder of the year. While Mrs Slee was pleased at the update, she said she waited with baited breath as her trust was wearing thin. “I’ve never been politically motivated before but I feel like there’s a housing shortage,” she said. “We really struggled to find a house down here, as did a lot of our friends who’d moved down and the government’s saying that they’re going to build all these houses but it’s their department that’s causing significant delays in anything moving forward.”