THE theft of a generator from a local pharmacy during Broken Hill's power outage spoiled medications and could lead to delays while they are restocked, a partner of the business said.

Police opened an investigation after Good Price Pharmacy Warehouse Broken Hill staff arrived to work on Tuesday to find the Essential Energy-supplied generator, which has been chained up, missing.

Outback Pharmacies partner Jason Harvey said the store had “probably lost tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of medications”.

“The generator was refilled with fuel at around midnight and then when staff arrived at 8am to prepare for the day, it was no longer there – so in that time window it was stolen,” he said.

“Those generators were powering the vaccine fridges. Those medications have to be kept between 2 to 8 degrees, so basically there's a fair chunk of those medications which are no longer viable.”

Mr Harvey said that as a result, “people might miss out (on their medication) for a couple of days or have to be delayed having those medications until we can get some more.”

He said the store had insurance and hoped it would pay for the spoiled medication.

Barrier Police District Acting Inspector Matt Sippel said an investigation had been established by Broken Hill police.

“It’s obviously very concerning that police have to investigate this matter in relation to the generator that was issued to assist with the pharmacy to operate, and the importance of that,” he said.

“Police ask for any information from members of the public, to contact Broken Hill police or Crime Stoppers.”