Hand washing and sanitising, key community safety strategies Australia-wide over recent months, have given us the opportunity to support local businesses.

Sourcing sanitiser for our workforce became challenging as the coronavirus pandemic took hold, so we turned to local businesses that had pivoted from making spirits to making this vital product.

Two of those distilleries were Prohibition Liquor Co, which began distilling in the Adelaide Hills in 2015 and Seppeltsfield Road Distillers which opened in July 2018 in the Barossa Valley.

Both stepped into the breach, supplying this key product which in turn helped us keep our staff healthy, ensuring the power stayed on while supporting the wider community.

At Prohibition the team decided to make sanitiser in early March after having trouble getting it for their own staff, and then started shipping it to customers with every order – a practice which turned into requests from agencies such as the SA Police, SES, SA Health and us!

"Prohibition were very happy to be able to help SA Power Networks during the early stages of this COVID-19 pandemic, as we were with a host of other SA Government departments and emergency services,” said Adam Carpenter, co-founder of Prohibition.

“We were simply filling an urgent need, with a product we could manufacture, given our alcohol handling capabilities, but to see the benefit it provided these crucial businesses really made us feel good about the work we can do in a crisis. It also helped our business through this period, so it’s a true benefit to everyone involved."

Word of mouth also led to SA Power Networks to Seppeltsfield Road Distillers, which at the time was seeking approval to produce hand sanitiser in accordance with Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and World Health Organisation guidelines. 

The team subsequently organised a bulk delivery which was decanted by our warehouse team and sent to most locations around the state.

“Normally production of hand sanitiser is the remit of the large chemical companies,” said Seppeltsfield Road General Manager, Jon Durdin.

“With a breakdown of supply chains and a significant increase in demand, Seppeltsfield Road Distillers were able to step in and help local health care and essential services providers in a time of need.”