Property poles & privately owned powerlines
A property pole is an electricity pole inside your property’s boundary. It usually supports the overhead powerlines to your home or other buildings. If you’re the property owner, it is your responsibility to keep private property poles safe and well-maintained.
IMPORTANT: If a powerline from the property pole to a building on your property falls to the ground, stay well clear and call Triple zero (000).
What is a property pole?
Property poles are usually installed on behalf of a landowner by a licensed electrical contractor to run power to buildings on the property. In most cases, they don’t supply any other customers and can be made of timber, steel or concrete.
If you are not sure who owns a pole, a property pole will have a letter label of A, B, C or D. If a pole is owned by us, you will find a label with numeric and letters marked on the pole approximately 2.4 meters above the ground.
Property pole risks
Over time, property poles can deteriorate through decay, termite damage or rust. This could result in the pole leaning or falling over, creating a bushfire, potentially injuring people and damaging the surrounding property.
A fallen property pole could also bring down its attached powerline. This could cause injury or death. It could also interrupt your electricity supply until you can have the pole replaced by a licensed electrical contractor.
Responsibilities of property owners
To ensure the safe, reliable connection of the electricity supply to the property, it is the landowner’s responsibility to regularly inspect and maintain any privately owned electricity infrastructure in accordance with the Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld) and the Electrical Safety Regulation 2013 (Qld), or for our NSW customers the Electricity Supply Act 1995 (NSW) and the Electricity Supply (Safety and Network Management) Regulation 2014 (NSW).
As the landowner, you remain legally responsible for rectifying any defects found on your property pole, as well as the ongoing inspection and maintenance of any other privately owned electrical assets.
As the owner of the property pole, you are responsible for keeping it electrically safe. To do this, we recommend that:
- A safety inspection be carried out every five years by a licensed electrical contractor, qualified and accredited pole inspector, or RPEQ engineer with a structural engineering area of discipline
- Any defects identified as part of these inspections must be rectified by the appropriately qualified contractor
- Nearby trees are trimmed and maintained by a qualified arborist/professional tree trimmer (do not attempt to trim these trees or branches yourself)
- You do not attempt to fix any issues yourself due to the electrical safety risk (it is an offence to conduct electrical work without an electrical work license).
You can find a licensed electrical contractor in your local directory, online or by visiting Master Electricians Australia or the National Electrical and Communications Association.
What if I’m a tenant?
If you are renting, tell the landowner or your property manager immediately if you think that a property pole or powerline on the property needs maintenance or repair. If they don’t take prompt action, contact us on 13 16 70 to report a potential unsafe electrical situation.
Inspecting a property pole
A safety inspection is recommended to be carried out every five years by a licensed electrical contractor, qualified and accredited pole inspector or an RPEQ engineer with a structural engineering area of discipline to check the condition of your property pole. This inspection should include the base of the pole and below ground level.
This is to identify any issues such as:
- The property pole may be leaning, decayed above or below ground, signs of termites, rust or other damage
- Any equipment including the meter box or electrical cables have deteriorated
- The point of attachment or crossarm (if your property pole has one) that supports our service line have deteriorated.
If you have any concerns about the condition and/or safety of your property poles, contact a licensed electrical contractor.
IMPORTANT: Always check your property poles from ground level. Never climb the pole or touch the powerline.
Property pole safety tips
If you have private property poles or a privately owned powerline on your property, remember to ‘take care, stay line aware’. Follow these tips to reduce the risk of an electrical accident:
- Regularly arrange a safety inspection of your property pole or point of attachment
- Be aware of the location of any powerlines on or near your property
- Look out for overhead powerlines whenever you are moving equipment or ladders around your property
- Take care when you are cleaning gutters or working near the point of attachment to a building or other structure
- Use our plant smart search to help you choose suitable trees to plant nearby
- Never trim trees that have grown close to powerlines yourself. Always contact a qualified arborist in your area who has expertise in trimming near powerlines.
Replacing your property pole
When your property pole is needing to be replaced due to a defect identified or you are changing the connection point onsite, it is important that our service line to the connection point is only relocated by us.
Start by talking to a licensed electrical contractor, they will need to undertake work at your premises and complete relevant paperwork for your proposed changes to your connection. An electrical contractor can provide technical information about your premises that will assist with the connection process.
To make changes to the power supply at your premises, a Connect Application and Electrical Work Request (EWR) needs to be submitted by your electrical contractor. This request gives us and your electricity retailer additional information about your connection change and enables your retailer to send us the required Service Order to arrange a crew to attend. It's important that you speak with your retailer to confirm the request and accept any applicable charges.
To prevent any delays to your connection, it is important that your electrical contractor’s work onsite to meet the requirements of the current version of the Queensland Electricity Connection Manual (QECM).
You can find a licensed electrical contractor in your local directory, online or by calling Master Electricians Australia on 1300 889 198 or the National Electrical and Communications Association on 1300 361 099.
It is critical that any property pole that is defective and needs to be replaced, has control measures implemented to eliminate and/or reduce risk exposure of falling over and causing harm.
Community safety inspection program
Recent changes require us to routinely inspect privately owned property poles every 5 years. For our New South Wales customers, we are required under the Electricity Supply Act 1995 (NSW), the Electricity Supply (Safety and Network Management) Regulation 2014 (NSW) and the New South Wales Service and Installation Rules to inspect every property pole up to the Metering Point. This additional safety inspection complements the responsibilities of the landowner to ensure the electricity supply remains safe and manage any bushfire risk.
The inspection process involves a comprehensive visual and below ground assessment of the first property pole and is completed by an authorised Energex contractor. This inspection by our contractor is at no cost to you.
If we identify a defect as part of this inspection program, we will notify you in writing with the defect details including the strict timeframe by which the defect/s need to be rectified. The landowner is then required to arrange the defect to be rectified by the relevant professional contractor to ensure any electrical safety and/or bushfire risks are well managed.
Financial Hardship Assistance
We recognise that property pole and private powerline maintenance works can be a significant cost. To assist those who have received notification of a defect and are experiencing financial stress or hardship, we have a Hardship Policy for the maintenance of privately-owned property poles and powerlines.
For a confidential discussion around eligibility for support, please call our Customer Asset team on 1300 743 268 to discuss the defect and assistance available.
Want more information?
Download our electricity safety guide (PDF 1.8 mb) as a handy electrical safety reference.
For more on electrical safety and private power poles, visit the Electrical Safety Office website.