A Wagga business owner has been left frustrated after contractors blocked access to parking around his coffee shop at peak trading time.
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Kevin Kelly owns the Specialty Coffee House at 10 Best Street Wagga, where caffeine addicts' morning routines see the shop's peak hit between 6.30am and 9.30am.
But on Thursday morning, they were foiled by Essential Energy's contractors and trucks clearing tree branches around power lines.
Mr Kelly said he understood it's a job that needs to be done, but there was no communication about the scheduled work.
"Old mate comes around the corner at 7.20am in front and put up the cones, and they stop access with witches hats all the way down the road," he said.
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"There are regular customers who told me when they saw it they kept going because it was too hard to stop and park.
"I had three people in the shop when normally you have about 20, and they were irritable at the noise."
Mr Kelly said he was frustrated by the loss of income and wants to see companies communicate with small businesses more in the future.
"If they told me, I could have asked them to come in the early afternoon which would not have disrupted us as much," he said.
"They were there for about 90 mins to two hours, and it's not the best start for our new menu."
A spokesperson from Essential Energy provided a statement to The Daily Advertiser on Thursday afternoon but did not respond directly to questions about the impact on 10 Best Street.
"Managing the vegetation that's growing close to powerlines plays a crucial role in maintaining reliable power and community safety," they said.
"Essential Energy contractors were on Best Street, Wagga this morning carrying out works on vegetation on the road reserve.
"For customer privacy reasons, we can't disclose details of individuals, however, we can confirm that vegetation management contractors do provide notice to customers prior to commencing work on private trees to help everyone make necessary alternative arrangements."
The statement further read that their specialist contractors do everything they can to balance keeping the local trees and bushes and maintaining reliable power supply for the community.
"Trees and powerlines can be a deadly combination, with branches coming into contact with overhead powerlines posing a serious hazard to people and wildlife," they said.
"There's also the increased potential for bushfires, damage to property, injury and unplanned power outages if contact occurs.
"Essential Energy uses directional pruning techniques that remove branches growing towards a powerline and encourage re-growth away from the power network, techniques that are considered best practice throughout the arboriculture industry and are used by most power companies in Australia."
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