Electricity companies given power to charge over tree removal

Nov. 10, 2014, 4:46 p.m.

Electricity companies have been given the power to remove or cut trees on private land and charge the owners for it, if the company decides the trees may be a bushfire risk.

Electricitycompanies have been given the power to remove or cut trees on private land and charge the owners for it, if the company decides the trees may be a bushfire risk.

Network providers can take the steps if a property owner fails to remove a tree the company has told them to chop.

The move comes as the state government has been forced to review controversial new laws allowing landowners to remove any tree within 10 metres of their homes, if they are near bushfire-prone land.

Those laws have been criticised as being an overly blunt instrument that has allowed the clearing of trees in coastal areas to improve water views.

The latest law, also in the name of bushfire risk mitigation, would give electricity companies the power to override environmental protection, threatened species or national parks laws.

Power companies will not need permission to enter private land on a particular day, and they will not be liable for any additional damage done to the property while acting under this power.

The definition of bushfire-prone land is the same as under the previous new tree clearing rules: fire risk maps approved by the Rural Fire Service. These maps mostly describe areas that are indisputably bushfire-prone, but have been criticised for quirks that include some coastal areas that have never burned, such as parts of Mosman and beachside Gerroa.

Under the new laws, passed with the help of the Opposition last week, electricity companies can now identify trees they decide could make the network operators electricity works become a potential cause of bushfire. They then direct the landowner as to the works required, and give them 30 days to perform it to the companys specifications.

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Electricity companies given power to charge over tree removal