Budget estimates have revealed Callide Power Station executives were paid $300,000 in bonuses while Queensland taxpayers paid nearly $50 million for a report into the Callide power plant explosion and CS Energy’s legal fees.
It was revealed the Brady Heywood investigative report cost approximately $10 million while CS Energy’s legal fees cost taxpayers approximately $38 million.
Related article: Forensic report blames CS Energy for Callide C explosion
At the same time, company executives were paid a staggering $300,000 in bonuses.
The Brady Heywood investigative report into the catastrophic explosion at Callide C power station in May 2021 found CS Energy failed to implement “effective process safety practices” at the facility.
CS Energy commissioned Dr Sean Brady of forensic engineering firm Brady Heywood to review the underlying cause of the 2021 explosion that resulted in major damage to Unit C4, which remains offline.
There were no fatalities, but the incident destroyed Unit C4’s turbine generator and destabilised the Queensland power grid. The explosion initiated a cascading failure of nine major generator units across the state, which caused almost half a million Queensland customers to lose power.
Queensland Energy Minister Mick de Brenni was questioned about bonuses at the Budget Estimates meeting.
Related article: Callide C return-to-service date pushed back again
“I had a general dissatisfaction with board and the chief,” he said.
“The remuneration of government-owned corporation staff is entirely a matter for the board.”
