Vanessa Napaltjari Davis puts $70 a week on her prepaid electricity card – but as Alice Springs swelters through ever-hotter summers, that credit lasts less than three days
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Since the start of summer, Vanessa Napaltjari Davis and her grandchildren have sweltered in their two-bedroom home. Temperatures in the southern half of the Northern Territory have been well above average, and the electricity running their single air-conditioner has been regularly disconnected.
“We almost had 40 days over 40,” she says. “I was struggling to keep on top of the power bill and keep my little grannies [grandchildren] cool.”