AusNet has invested over $331 million on network maintenance and vegetation management in the last 12 months, to keep the network and community safe.
AusNet Executive General Manager Distribution, Andrew Linnie, said it’s important that the energy network is ready for summer and severe weather events.
“We have been working all year to prepare the electricity network for what the authorities have told us is likely to be a hot, dry summer.”
“We have invested $273 million on network maintenance and replacement works, with additional $59 million on vegetation management,” said Mr Linnie.
Preparation work comes following a warning from Emergency Management Victoria (EMV) for the community to prepare for an early start to the fire season, with an increased risk of fires in drought-affected areas across Victoria.
EMV advised that low rainfall across the west of the state, west central and through south-west Gippsland have resulted in an increased chance of fires due to the increased fuel load.
“Summer is a particularly challenging time for electricity customers. On top of the bushfire risk, summer often brings with it intense thunderstorms that can damage infrastructure,” said Mr Linnie.
“AusNet has also supported the creation of over 50 community resilience hubs within in its network area in the past 12 months, as part of our Energy Resilience Community Fund, with 20 hubs now ready for community use during emergency events,” said Mr Linnie.
“This year across the AusNet network our Asset Inspectors, who assess AusNet’s infrastructure to ensure it’s safe, completed 76,030 pole inspections, with an additional 44,800 poles inspected by the helicopter team, a total of 120,830 poles. This work resulted in the identification and completion of 57,718 maintenance jobs,” said Mr Linnie.
Our vegetation team, who are responsible for keeping trees away from powerlines, assessed 322,620 spans (spans being the area between two poles) across the network, identifying maintenance work that was undertaken on 67,930 spans.