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Electricity Safety Amendment (Bushfire
Mitigation) Bill 2013
Introduction Print
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
General
The Bill amends the Electricity Safety Act 1998 for the mitigation of
bushfire risk arising from electric lines and electricity networks and for other
purposes.
Clause Notes
PART 1--PRELIMINARY
Clause 1 states the main purposes of the Bill.
Clause 2 provides for the commencement of the Bill. The Bill comes
into operation on a day or days to be proclaimed. The default
commencement date for the Bill is 29 June 2015. The 29 June
2015 commencement date is more than 12 months from the likely
date that the Bill, if passed, would receive the Royal Assent to
allow sufficient time to undertake consultation about the
prescribed information for the purposes of the amendments to
section 113A(3) of the Electricity Safety Act 1998.
Clause 3 states that references in the Bill to the "Principal Act" are
references to the Electricity Safety Act 1998.
Clause 4 amends and inserts definitions in section 3 of the Principal Act.
Subclause (a) inserts a definition of Council. This Bill updates
the references to "municipal council" in the Principal Act to
Council. The amendment made by subclause (b) relates to this
change.
Subclause (b) amends the definition of public land.
571363 1 BILL LA INTRODUCTION 12/11/2013
Subclause (c) amends the definition of responsible person.
This amendment is consequential to amendments to section 84.
Subclause (d) amends the definition of urban area to mean an
area of land that is predominantly subdivided into allotments or
lots each of which, in the case of land used or to be used for
residential purposes, is not greater than 0·1 hectares, rather than
0·4 hectares as is currently the case (in addition to other criteria).
Clause 5 amends section 46(1)(a)(vi) of the Principal Act. This is
consequential to the new definition of Council inserted by
clause 4 and does not affect the operation of the section.
Clause 6 inserts new headings.
Subclause 1 inserts a new heading "Subdivision 1--Persons
responsible for maintaining lines" before section 84 of the
Principal Act.
Subclause 2 inserts a new heading "Subdivision 2--Other
matters" before section 85 of the Principal Act.
Clause 7 substitutes section 84 of the Principal Act with new sections 84,
84A, 84B, 84C and 84D. New sections 84 to 84D are intended to
modernise and replace existing section 84 of the Principal Act,
which sets out the requirements to keep trees clear of electric
lines. The new sections also have the effect of making several
changes to the persons who are required to keep trees clear of
electric lines. The effect of the Bill is that a distribution company
will be responsible for tree clearing that was previously the
responsibility of--
· a public land manager that was not a municipal council;
and
· VicRoads.
New section 84 provides that a distribution company is
responsible for keeping a tree clear of an electric line within its
distribution area unless another person under Subdivision 1 is
responsible for maintaining the electric line or keeping the tree
clear of the electric line.
New section 84A(1) provides that an occupier of land above or
below the surface of which there is a private electric line is
responsible for the maintenance of that electric line.
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New section 84A(2) provides that an occupier of land on which
there is a low voltage electric line which solely services that land
is responsible for keeping trees (situated on that land) clear of
that electric line.
New section 84B(1) provides that an occupier of land that is
continguous to land on which there is a private electric line is
responsible for keeping trees situated on the occupier's land clear
of that electric line. New section 84B(2) provides that the
occupier may enter onto the land on which there is the private
electric line to keep a tree clear of the electric line.
New section 84C provides that a Council responsible for the
management of public land in an area of land declared under
section 81 is responsible for keeping trees (situated on that land)
clear of an electric line that is not a private electric line.
New section 84D provides that a person (other than a distribution
company) who owns or operates an electric line, or installs or
uses an electric line under an Act of the Commonwealth, is
responsible for keeping trees clear of the electric line.
Clause 8 amends the references to section 84 in the Principal Act as a
consequence of the insertion of new sections 84, 84A, 84B, 84C
and 84D. In addition, it repeals section 90A(2) of the Principal
Act to remove a redundant provision.
Clause 9 amends section 86B of the Principal Act. This is consequential
to the new definition of Council inserted by clause 4 and does not
affect the operation of the section.
Clause 10 repeals section 105A of the Principal Act to remove the provision
that a bushfire mitigation plan lapses on 30 June in the year after
the year in which an electricity safety management scheme was
accepted by Energy Safe Victoria. Section 105A is no longer
required as a result of the amendment made by clause 12 to
section 113A(1) of the Principal Act which requires the
preparation of plans for mitigation of bushfires every 5 years
rather than annually.
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Clause 11 inserts new section 112 of the Principal Act.
New section 112 provides that a major electricity company is not
required to submit a revised bushfire mitigation plan when it
submits a revised electricity safety management scheme unless
the reason for the revision relates to the bushfire mitigation plan.
Clause 12 makes amendments to 113A of the Principal Act.
Clause 12(1) substitutes section 113A(1) of the Principal Act to
require a major electricity company to prepare and submit to
Energy Safe Victoria a bushfire mitigation plan every 5 years,
rather than annually.
Clause 12(2) amends section 113A(3) of the Principal Act to
require a major electricity company to make prescribed
information about its accepted bushfire mitigation plan available
for inspection on its website and at its office.
Clause 13 amends section 113D(2) of the Principal Act to remove
references to sections 107, 109 and 110.
The effect of these amendments are listed below--
· The reference to section 107 of the Principal Act, which
provides for the revision of an electricity safety
management scheme, is removed. The removal of this
reference will mean that section 107 will also apply to
the revision of a bushfire mitigation plan.
· The reference to section 109 of the Principal Act is
removed. This will mean that Energy Safe Victoria may
request the revision of a bushfire mitigation plan as well
as a revision of an electricity safety management
scheme.
· The reference to section 110 of the Principal Act is
removed. Section 110 requires a major electricity
company to submit a revised electricity safety
management scheme further to a request made by
Energy Safe Victoria under section 109 of the Principal
Act. Following this amendment a major electricity
company will be required to submit a revised bushfire
mitigation plan further to a request made by Energy
Safe Victoria.
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Clause 14 substitutes section 113E of the Principal Act. This is related to
the amendments made to section 113A(1) of the Principal Act to
require a major electricity company to prepare and submit to
Energy Safe Victoria a bushfire mitigation plan every 5 years.
The intended effect of new section 113E is that if a major
electricity company is required to revise its bushfire mitigation
plan the company does not need to revise its electricity safety
management scheme.
Clause 15 provides for the automatic repeal of this amending Act on
29 June 2016. The repeal of this Act does not affect the
continuing operation of the amendments made by this Act
(see section 15(1) of the Interpretation of Legislation Act
1984).
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