Idyllic island paradise resort is about to become ‘unliveable’ as power company cuts electricity claiming it’s owed $12million
- Island community is set to have it electricity cut off
- South Stradbroke provider claims it is owed $12million
- Largely retired residents will have ‘unliveable’ homes
The latest in a long-running series of bitter disputes has seen residents on an island paradise lose their electricity, which they say will put elderly and disabled people in distress.
‘Eco’ viillage Couran Cove on South Stradbroke Island, near the Gold Coast in south-east Queensland, was cut off from electricity from 10am on Wednesday with a service provider claiming they are owed $12million.
The village is a short distance from a mix of residential, holiday home and guest accommodation managed by the Couran Cove Island Resort.
Residents of a secluded eco-friendly village on South Stradbroke Island have been cut off from power
The villagers say they pay about $10,000 to a body corporate every year, with the utilities being levied out of that.
Property owners Karen Angel and husband Mick told the ABC that they were being treated like pawns in a game between a creditor and debtor.
They said that without basic utilities, their properties would become unliveable, leaving people with no place to go amid Australia’s rental shortage crisis.
The eco village residents have long been in dispute over utility bills with management of the island’s main resort and various body corporates
‘There are lots of elderly, there are disabled people, there are sick people, so you know, it’s a real concern about where they’re going to go and what they’re going to do,’ Ms Angel said.
‘One person said, you know, maybe she’s going to be living in a tent somewhere.
‘That’s the uncertainty of what they’re putting people through.’
A Couran Cove Resort spokesperson denied the situation was as drastic as it was being portrayed and was being ‘100 per cent’ exaggerated.
The spokesperson laughed at the suggestion people would be forced to live in tents when they still had their lodges with running water and gas.
Residents of the eco village, which include elderly and disabled people, say they might be forced out of their homes
She said the loss of electricity was simply a matter of the village’s body corporate not paying its bill.
‘The body corporate lodges have been paid off, the body corporate studios have been paid off but the body corporate ecos haven’t paid off,’ she said.
South Stradbroke Island boasts near deserted beaches and also plenty of bush reservation areas
An earlier dispute about unpaid gas bills led to the village avoiding disconnection by getting bottled gas in early 2022.
At the time Channel Nine reported there were five body corporates involved on the island and court disputes over millions in unpaid levies.
The Couran Cove Resort spokesperson could not say how many permanent residents there were in the eco village.
There were 142 people living on the island in 160 private dwellings, according to 2021 Census figures.
On its website Couran Cove Resort boasts that it offers ‘peaceful seclusion just a 30-minute ferry ride from the heart of the Gold Coast’.
‘Just imagine waking up each morning to the gentle sound of nature, the call of native birds, the whisper of the breeze through abundant Banksia, secluded rainforests and the hushed roll of distant surf!’ the website suggests.