![The padmount substation at Yass road service station, shortly to be hooked up. The padmount substation at Yass road service station, shortly to be hooked up.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/rG8fTaJSn3KqLFJaeg5yPn/df004eb7-51a4-4c87-af63-fdef5275faeb.jpg/r0_1294_3024_3172_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The nine-month saga of who will pay for the expensive power connection and substation at the SouthWest Fuel service station complex on Yass Road appears to have come to an end.
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The acting general manager of Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council, Phil McMurray, told the monthly meeting in Cootamundra on Tuesday night that the council would pay for the connection, which according to previous reports will cost ratepayers around $270,000.
The original proposal last year was to connect the station with a simple overhead power line costing $60,000, and it was expected the bill would be paid by the developers.
On a site inspection last year mayor Abb McAlister sought assurances that the $60,000 connection would not be paid for by the council.
However early this year council was presented with a bill for $270,000, the extra $210,000 being for underboring Yass Road and supplying a padmount substation by Essential Energy.
Council was told the then-suspended general manager, Allen Dwyer, had signed a letter indicating the cost of any upgrades would be met by the council.
![View from neighbouring vacant block, showing silhouettes of substation, fuel tank and generator going 24/7 all this year to keep the site supplied with power. View from neighbouring vacant block, showing silhouettes of substation, fuel tank and generator going 24/7 all this year to keep the site supplied with power.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/rG8fTaJSn3KqLFJaeg5yPn/a1a4af18-f77f-47b6-918a-51be8f1b70a7.jpg/r582_251_3189_2142_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
In February mayor McAlister said he was "absolutely staggered" that the council was funding the cost of the connection, for which the developer gets the benefit.
"It's a handy handout we shouldn't have done," he said at the time.
The issue was kept alive in council meeting papers, where was listed every month in the action report, pending legal advice.
However over the past two months it disappeared, until Cr Gil Kelly asked about it on Tuesday night.
In responding to Cr Kelly's inquiry, Cr McAlister commented "we were always going to pay".
While the parties have been sorting out who's responsible, power has been supplied by a generator operating 24/7.
In February Mr McMurray said negotiations with Roads and Maritime Services had saved council $550,000 in the cost of roadworks, so council has still come out of the entire exercise under budget.
In discussion it was also pointed out that the substation would benefit any further industrial developments in that area.
Mr McMurray said that as far as he was aware the substation would be hooked up in the very near future.
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