To conserve water, operator Snowy Hydro is using two gas-fired power plants it already has in Victoria. It is also funding a cloud-seeding trial to increase snowfall and is recycling water through its Tumut 3 power station.

But in an update on its website, the company said the scheme was “suffering” from the drought.

“Water inflows during the last 11 months were significantly below the previous lowest ever minimums – minimums recorded over 101 years – and were worse than could have been anticipated,” said the update.

“Because of the extremely low water inflow pattern over the last 10 years, water levels in Snowy Scheme storages have steadily decreased since 1997 and are currently around 10% of active capacity.”

Managing director Terry Charlton told the Sydney Morning Herald that the company needed to build more gas-fired power plants, but it was “suffering a starvation of capital” due to its ownership by the federal, New South Wales and Victorian governments.