Angry residents in an outback town enduring rolling blackouts and brownouts are set to meet the premier and demand answers for the debilitating outage.
NSW Premier Chris Minns will travel to Broken Hill on Thursday a week after severe thunderstorms wiped out power lines and faulty generators left 20,000 people in the area with minimal electricity.
The premier has sought to blame the prior government's privatisation of electricity infrastructure but critics say not enough was done to keep back-up systems online.
The outage has already spoiled tonnes of food, hampered year 12 exam preparations and even postponed a mental health-awareness tour by swimming legend Kyle Chalmers.
Mr Minns will face unsatisfied locals when he heads to the region, Broken Hill mayor Tom Kennedy believes.
Broken Hill Mayor Tom Kennedy says cutting power use in hot weather is difficult for many residents. (Stuart Walmsley/AAP PHOTOS)
"A lot of people in Broken Hill are just not happy, considering we shouldn't have gone through this," he told ABC Radio.
"There should have been two generators that would ensure Broken Hill kept its power supply and also the outlying regions that have been several days without power at different times during this disaster."
Instead, one gas-fired generator has been offline for nearly a year and the other tripped on Monday under high power demand due to hot weather.
The second generator was up and running on Wednesday but community demand exceeds its capacity, leading to brownouts.
"It's easy to say, 'Don't put the air-cooler on', then it hits 37C, 38C and people just cannot put up with it," Cr Kennedy said.
Transgrid said additional generators were installed in the town on Tuesday night and further units were on the way, while a 24-hour rotating shift began on Wednesday to fix power lines.
Workers have also returned to the local mine, which shut down to reduce demand on the network.
A natural disaster has been declared, as has an electricity supply emergency, allowing ministers to pull extra levers to fix the issue.
But grants or compensation for homes and businesses are not yet on offer.
Most residents in Broken Hill have their power back but concerns remain about its stability. (Supplied by Transgrid/AAP PHOTOS)
"The feeling on the ground is not great," Nationals leader Dugald Saunders said after visiting on Wednesday.
"Every second person I have spoken to tells me they have had to throw out hundreds of dollars worth of food, yet there is no clarity around assistance for families who are already facing a cost-of-living crisis."
The premier on Wednesday blamed the rolling blackouts and brownouts on the former coalition government's $10 billion sale of the high-voltage electricity transmission network in 2021.
"None of this would have been an issue if the previous government hadn't privatised it," he told parliament.
"When something similar happened (in 2009) and it was owned by the NSW government, redundant power came on immediately."
Operator Transgrid will face an independent inquiry into its maintenance standards and potential breaches of its licence.
The outage has come at a bad time for local year 12 students as they undergo HSC exams.
Last-ditch study sessions are being run each evening at Broken Hill High School to reduce stress for senior students.Â
"While (power providers) are doing load shedding and the kids have no certainty of power at home, we're going to continue to offer it," principal Ross Mackay told AAP.
School kitchens have also been made available to families struggling to cook at home.
Schools are expected to apply on HSC students' behalf for special consideration.
It's another headache for the town's students after an extensive mould outbreak forced the demolition of Willyama High School.
The 570 students were initially spread across town before a suite of demountables was established in April on the grounds of Broken Hill High School.