A BATHURST Essential Energy employee says they are concerned about what will happen during the next storm season as the company embarks on another round of job cuts.
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It was reported this week that Essential Energy will make 71 field and 111 non-field positions redundant across regional NSW over the next three months.
Australian Community Media contacted Essential earlier this week, but the company declined to provide information about which jobs would be cut and from what locations.
The Western Advocate was contacted on Thursday by a current Bathurst Essential employee, who did not want to be named, who said nine employees - seven at Bathurst and two at Oberon - had been given forced redundancies on Tuesday.
"Six of those [forced redundancies] are field-based - poles and wires jobs," the employee said.
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The employee said the latest job cuts followed 11 redundancies in Bathurst in 2015.
"We have just come through the storm season - probably the worst that we have had for a couple of years," the Essential employee said.
"There were people writing in to the Advocate saying that they did not have power for two to three days. And the reason was a lack of resources [at Essential].
"We had to get staff from Wellington, Mudgee, Orange. It could have even been Forbes, too.
They've got the message loud and clear.
"What will happen come the next storm season? If we get a storm that sweeps through NSW, people will be without power for days."
The Essential employee said two of those made redundant in Bathurst on Tuesday each had more than 30 years of experience.
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Job cuts at Essential were raised at Bathurst Regional Council's meeting on Wednesday.
Deputy mayor Bobby Bourke asked if council had any intention of talking to Essential, which he said was a big employer in the region, about the cuts and the impact on services.
"It'll have a huge impact on work and council. I don't know what they're trying to do, but we need to get them in here ... we need to talk to Essential Energy and see what the future holds for us," he said.
In his response, general manager David Sherley said that council hadn't been informed by the provider itself about the situation, but he would ask for more information.
Government response
Member for Bathurst Paul Toole, meanwhile, says Essential has been given a clear message about the job cuts.
Mr Toole said Essential Energy was a state-owned corporation which operated independently of the government.
Asked if the NSW Government would force Essential to abandon the job cuts, Mr Toole said "they've got the message loud and clear".
"I think they're going to be given a pretty good rocket up them about what we want to see happening in the bush rather than them thinking what needs to happen," he said.
"We've given them a pretty scathing letter back telling them it's unacceptable."
Deputy Premier John Barilaro said on Wednesday that he was disappointed to hear such a large number of jobs were being cut and that Essential Energy needed to be transparent.
"I have summoned the CEO of Essential Energy to a meeting to explain the company's position," he said.
"Regional NSW is in the grips of one of the most severe droughts on record and everyone needs to do their part to make sure our regions are able to endure the worst of this drought."
Mr Toole said this was an example of the Nationals sticking up for regional Australians.
"Rural communities are doing it tough and it's important that those jobs are retained in those local communities," he said.
"The further you go out west it can be the difference between a school keeping its doors opened or closing, it can be the difference between supporting a local small business owner."
Annual report
Essential Energy's annual report for 2017-18 reports that the supplier recorded an after-tax loss of $11.6 million.
"This result was negatively impacted by a one-off adjustment of approximately $19m relating to street lighting revenue in preceding years. Investment in our business transformation program to achieve longer term efficiencies was also a contributing factor to the FY2017-18 result," the report states.
"We remain focused on ensuring the business is sustainable in the long term and continues to have access to capital to operate, maintain and expand critical network infrastructure."
