If your property has transmission lines crossing it, there will be an easement on either side of the towers.
Under the Electricity Safety Act (1998), we must inspect the transmission lines, easements, access tracks and gates to:
- make sure they’re in safe working condition
- check the condition of tower bases and powerlines
- find and address defects or problems as early as possible
- make sure access tracks and gates are maintained and allow safe and clear access to the transmission lines
- confirm trees and vegetation on the easements are a safe distance from the powerlines and are not overgrown.
We carry out this work with our delivery partner, Zinfra.
What we’ll be doing
To inspect and maintain the transmission lines our delivery partners perform many different tasks:
- Yearly easement patrols to check the lines and towers at ground level – this can be on foot or using four-wheel drive vehicles.
- Detailed inspections of towers and lines – every 3, 6 or 9 years, we climb each tower to get a detailed condition assessment.
- Aerial inspections using a helicopter or drone.
- Repairing any defects found.
Repairs can take a long time and require large vehicles, such as elevated work platform vehicles or even helicopters to reach the tower tops and powerlines.
We do these repairs as quickly as we can to ensure the safety and reliability of our electricity network.