Bank staff break in so people have cash

Bank staff in Broken Hill have broken into their branch and worked in the dark so that customers could get cash, as communication and power connections were cut during a major blackout.

Broken Hill Community Credit Union general manager Louise Hunt did not want to divulge how a third-party helped staff bypass the branch security, but said the impromptu circumventing was sorely needed on Tuesday.

“We did have to be a little innovative about how we got in.”

As Broken Hill sweltered and people were on a mad dash to find cash, the branches of the “big four” banks in the town could not open.

But the Broken Hill Community Credit Union resolved to never leave customers high and dry.

“It doesn’t matter that the power’s out, we have to be open in some format. The last thing we want is customers panicking, thinking they can’t get their money,” Ms Hunt told NewsWire.

Customers were able to go to he bank branch and get cash out, despite the town’s ATMs being down. People had driven in from the Wilcannia area, 200km away, to get cash.

Again, Ms Hunt is keeping some details secret for security, but withdrawing cash in a blackout involved bank laptops and remote connection devices, and power banks which the secret third-party operator supplied.

On October 17 a severe storm destroyed seven Transgrid transmission towers in the region, causing power cuts to a massive region of western NSW and the South Australian outback.

More than 12,000 homes and businesses have been without power, many for prolonged periods during the past week.

The affected area spans more than 400km from Menindee, south of Broken Hill, to Tibooburra near the Queensland border. In South Australia, power was restored to all but 1000 homes and businesses by Saturday.

But the outages persisted in NSW, and on Monday Broken Hill’s main generator failed, leaving the town of 17,000 people to rely on privately owned diesel generators.

Restaurants, pharmacies and households have ditched hundreds of thousands of dollars of spoiled food and medicine.

On Thursday the Premier announced all affected households will get $200 and all small to medium businesses get $400 – totalling a $4m relief package.

Miners in the mining town are being forced to take leave.

As the sun rose on Tuesday and the citizens realised the town’s generator was out, temperatures climbed to 33 degrees.

With no lights or airconditioning, seven bank staff set up shop and helped 25 people get their cash, including one young man who needed money for a generator.

“We wanted to open the doors and say ‘if you need cash we’re open, come and get it’,” Ms Hunt said.

“We had staff working in the dark.”

Because phones and power were patchy at best, the bank tried to tell customers via social media the branch was open; but that was unsuccessful, so the staff working in the blackout on Tuesday only stayed open for a few hours.

Customers of other banks were frustrated they themselves could not get cash out, but Ms Hunt did not hear of anyone withdrawing cash from the locally-owned bank for their mates.

But because most people bank digitally in Broken Hill, most people were caught without money.

Since the major blackout on Tuesday, some older customers had been “spooked” and were reverting to cash, Ms Hunt said.

However, Ms Hunt hoped people would not resort to keeping more cash at home, for fear of burglaries, and the fact the local bank staff had stepped up in the crisis.

Local contractors had been working with the power company “around the clock”, Ms Hunt said, and connections are coming back on. The generator was restored Wednesday morning, but electricity is being rationed, with houses getting two-hour bursts of electricity.

Customer Owned Banking Association chief executive Michael Lawrence Broken Hill Community Credit Union’s dedication exemplified customer-owned banks’ dedication.

“Their actions go to the heart of customer-owned banking – putting people and the communities they serve first.”

NSW Premier Chris Minns has confirmed the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal is investigating Transgrid’s management of towers and backup generators and whether the company failed to meet its reliability standards.