Western Power has announced their profit is up 21 per cent on last year with a new figure of $191 million being released. Their debt level has also increased to almost $6.2 million which is up 13 per cent on figures for last financial year according to their annual report.

Western Power believes this is to some extent due to increased funding for upgrading the ageing power pole network.

Paul Italiano, CEO of Western Power states these results are in line with forecasts.

“It is important to know that Western Power is regulated,” Mr Italiano said.

The Economic Regulation Authority found that the results that have been produced this year by Western Power including the increase in debt are consistent with their findings.

Mr Italiano said “this is in line with expectations for the organisation.”

“This increase in debt is not unusual during a period of infrastructure improvement,” Mr Italiano said.

“With a business like ours this is not uncommon. The cost of running the network is recovered from consumers over a period of time and we have to recover on a period of under investment in our network,” he said.

Mr Italiano also states “the outflow of investment in the network has to be covered somewhere during the intervening period, and that’s covered by debt.”

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