Power pole maintenance in the spotlight

A public awareness campaign has been announced by the state government – but the opposition says it is not enough.

Labor’s Energy spokesman Bill Johnston said in announcing another public awareness campaign for maintenance of private power lines and poles, the government was backing away from a compulsory inspection and fines scheme.

He said in January 2013, the Government released a guidelines brochure for landowners with power poles and lines, but it was later found the guidelines were flawed and the brochure had since been pulled from the website.

He said WA Labor had called for qualified inspections of private poles and lines, given the current system of placing the safety burden on private property owners had failed with disastrous results.

“The current system is a recipe for disaster and all the government will do is run another public awareness campaign,” he said.

Energy Minister Mike Nahan said Mr Johnston was misrepresenting the State Government. 

“The Government is requesting owners to get a licensed electrical contractor to inspect their poles and lines. That is, to get the job done by licensed professionals. We are asking for inspections, but we want owners to organise them for themselves without any pressure from the Government or EnergySafety,” he said.

“Bill Johnston’s policy would impose millions of dollars of additional and often unnecessary costs on the community.

“It has always been the property owner’s responsibility to maintain all electrical equipment they own."

Mr Nahan said the Government was committed to monitoring voluntary actions by property owners.

“The response to the awareness campaign will be gauged by the number of Notices of Completion electrical contractors send in to network operators after completing upgrading work on private overhead power lines. This should provide a guide as to what, if any, further and possibly more forceful action is warranted in the future,” he said.

Local Against Wildfires (LAW) Secretary John Guest, of Balingup, said there had been little to no inspections or education about maintaining private power lines over the last 30 years and longer.

“It now means we are at a crisis point with the private power lines. Many of the power lines are at the end of their life span, which means they are a very large risk to the community,” Mr Guest said.

“A public awareness campaign is long overdue but should only be part of a larger plan. There is now a  immediate risk to the community from these  power lines this fire season, which is largely due to the inaction of our government regulators who have admitted they have known about the problem well before the Parkerville–Stoneville fire, but did very little to fix the problem. Because of this we are at a “crisis point” and we need immediate strong action to stop more homes and possibly lives being lost this fire season from private powerlines.”

Mr Guest said the bushfire-prone areas should be targeted first.

“On the ground inspections are the only way we can fix the problem properly. Wooden meter box poles need to be changed to steel and overhead lines need to be put under ground or be replaced with steel or concrete poles. Financial assistance should be offered where needed. It may mean people pay off the cost over time in their power bill. The government has said that one of the reasons they are not doing this is because of the cost to the community. How much was the cost to the community from the Parkerville-Stoneville fire? We only need to stop one fire like this one and the cost is paid for.

“The effectiveness of a public awareness campaign must be seriously questioned. Last fire season 57 homes were destroyed by a fire which it was widely publicised was caused by a private power pole. This would have to be one of the best public awareness tools there is. In the area I live in, there are at least half a dozen different private power lines and poles which you can see by driving along the road are in very poor condition. None of these have been replaced.”