Lawyers representing Tasmania have detailed expenses in mitigation of losses incurred as a result of the outage, which totalled $122 million, in the notice. 

Energy Minister Guy Barnett said the matter will progress through a dispute resolution process, which may lead to arbitration. 

In December Hydro Tasmania declared two global experts had unearthed the reason for the cable’s failure, finding Basslink had run the cable above its importing capacity of 500 megawatts.

But Basslink chief executive Malcolm Eccles dispelled the reports, saying they did not provide conclusive and definitive proof for the assumption that the cable deteriorated through overheating scenarios.

“Firstly, Hydro Tasmania’s experts did no actual testing on the Basslink cable or any similar high-voltage direct current cables,” Mr Eccles told Fairfax Tasmania in December.

“They used a theoretical model based on certain assumptions to come to a set of conclusions.”

A report released by the National Energy Regulator in June found electricity prices in the Tasmania saw the highest average prices ever for the state and the second highest average of all states recorded to the national energy market in 2015-16.

“Two key factors accounted for this outcome – extended drought conditions, which limited dam storage needed for hydro generation, and a six-month outage on the Basslink interconnector to the mainland,” the report read.

Mr Barnett said the state government would not provide any further comment at this stage.