Public consultation – AusNet Services Draft Wood Pole Management Report

With public and environmental safety as its highest priority, Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) has commenced public consultation, inviting submissions on the Draft Report into AusNet Services Wood Pole Management.

Background

The investigation and delivery of ESV’s draft 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 for all Victorian Major Electricity Companies (MECs).

This draft 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

Public consultation

ESV is committed to providing an opportunity for the Victorian public to comment on its investigations into the management of wood poles. This is an important step in providing community confidence in the safety of the electricity distribution network across Victoria.

The public consultation and submission period for the Draft Report into AusNet Services Wood Pole Management closed on 1 September 2021. ESV will release the final report as per the timeline below.

Next steps

ESV will review all submissions received, update the report as deemed appropriate and publish a final report.

All submissions and comments received by ESV in relation to this consultation are considered public documents and will be published on ESV’s website. Any personal information contained in the submissions will be redacted to protect the privacy of individuals.

Timeline

Resources

• Draft Report into AusNet Services Wood Pole Management
• The online submission form
• The MS Word submission form
• Media release – ESV report highlights future safety risks in new AusNet pole management practices
• ESV’s Electrical incident and technical investigation reports