A major power station that provided 7 per cent of Perth and regional Western Australia’s electric generating capacity last year will be shut until January.

State-owned power generator Synergy confirmed it had shut Collie Power Station for three months due to a coal shortage.

David Honey, Opposition Shadow Energy Minister told Oliver Peterson on Perth Live that he believes there are some significant issues going on in the background of this decision.

“I saw some statements from the Minister for Energy, Bill Johnston this afternoon making certain claims about why there was a short fall of coal for the Collie Power Station which didn’t quite have the ring of truth to them,” he told Oly.

“Apparently he said the reason they had to shut the power station down for a three month period was because of an accident and that we had a wet winter as well – I’d love to know the details of what accident caused the power station to shut down for three months.”

Due to the high percentage of electricity this power station provides the state, there are fears of blackouts for this coming summer.

“We are pretty lucky with our power supply in WA – we do have significant non-coal backup but coal typically provides half of all our power. If we lose that capacity for that period of time, AEMO is responsible for making sure we have adequate reserve capacity.”

Press PLAY to hear more on why David Honey fears blackouts can occur this summer

Bill Johnston provided a statement on Perth Live.

“I’m not surprised that David Honey is a bit confused. Last year between September and November, it wasn’t turned on once so it’s not uncommon for the Collie Power Station not to be needed and that’s what we’ve found at the moment.”

“Because it’s not needed, we can build up a stock pile.”

Press PLAY to why Bill Johnston explain his statements given earlier on Monday afternoon