Western Power—Operational expenditure
203. Hon Dr Steve Thomas to the Leader of the House representing the Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation:
I refer to the operational expenditure of Western Power and the Western Power cost optimisation program.
(1) What savings have been generated by the Western Power cost optimisation program?
(2) What savings have been generated by the cost optimisation program that do not involve capitalisation of operational expenditure costs?
(3) What is the current assessment of Western Power's potential to avoid a fine from the Economic Regulator regarding operational expenditure for the AA5 period?
(4) What has been the increase in operating cost before any cost allocations to the network program of work for each of the Western Power functions each financial year from 2020–21 to 2024–25 to date?
The President: That is an extensive amount of data, I would have thought.
Hon Stephen Dawson replied:
It is, President. I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question. The following answer has been provided by the Minister for Energy and Decarbonisation.
(1) There is $15.1 million in cost reductions.
(2) Capitalisation of operating costs is not considered a saving; refer to previous answer.
(3) Western Power is currently on track to avoid a revenue adjustment for the AA6 period.
(4) The level of detail requested by the honourable member cannot be produced in the given timeframe. The honourable member should place this part of the question on notice.
