Aussie power firm seeks UK engineers

An Australian power firm has taken out an advert in the UK's Sun newspaper looking for people to help fix and maintain their electricity grid. ETSA Utilities, which is based in Keswick , South Australia, said that deregulation and privatisation had led to a shortage of trained workers.

The utility is not the only Southern Hemisphere firm looking to British shores. Earlier this month New Zealand's Solid Energy offered work to unemployed Northumberland miners.

As part of its recruitment drive, ETSA said it aimed to attend a migration fair in London and hold information sessions in Leeds, Dublin and Edinburgh.

"What has happened over the past few years in Australia is that due to various pressures of government deregulation and privatisation there has been a tendency of people not training powerline workers, or linesmen as we like to call them over here," a company spokesman said. As result, "there has been a shortage," he continued.

"Even though people have ramped up training of apprentices, it's a four-year apprenticeship and on the job components take another three to four years before you get a really competent person."

The company said that any applicant should be willing to travel and work away from home.