AusNet Services Pole Management final report

With public and environmental safety as its highest priority, Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) has released its final report into AusNet Services Wood Pole Management.

Background

The investigation and delivery of ESV’s final report into AusNet Services’ wood pole management practices follows a similar investigation into Powercor’s practices and subsequent report, published in December 2019, and ESV’s commitment to undertaking a review of the wood pole management practices across Victorian Major Electricity Companies (MECs).

This final report into the Wood Pole Management policies and practices of AusNet Services provides a summary of the detailed technical review undertaken by ESV, including:

• objectives of the investigation,
• key findings and their implications, and
• recommendations for future undertakings

Amendments to the Draft Report

ESV has made changes to the wording of Draft Report that include defining third (3rd) party cause of pole failures and providing greater clarity on the rationale behind Major Electricity Companies (MEC’s) use of different materials for poles.

ESV response to submissions

ESV invited public feedback on the Draft report and received five submissions. A document specifically addressing the questions raised by those contributors has been produced and is available on this site.

Next steps

AusNet Services has developed a wood pole management improvement plan to address all recommendations and findings in the final report and submit this to ESV, meeting Recommendation 1 in the final report. The plan includes clear and measurable milestones that can be monitored through regulator reporting.

Timeline

Resources

ESV’s Final Report into AusNet Services Wood Pole Management

Public submissions (redacted) in PDF format:

• Groundline Engineering
• CFA
• FRV
• Kingston District Power Alliance (KDPA)
• Individual submission

ESV’s response to submissions