A Merrigum resident raised concerns about Powercor’s recent tree maintenance work on Waverley Avenue, noting that some trees were heavily pruned while others were left untouched.
Powercor explained to The Adviser that vegetation management is crucial for maintaining a safe and reliable power network.
“We inspect 100 per cent of our network each year and we cut back trees and branches from around 50,000 powerline spans annually,” explained a Powercor spokesperson. “In this case, we identified vegetation that needed to be cut and our teams attended in December and again in January to complete this work. Cutting crews had already cut the adjacent tree in May last year.
“Precautions were taken to ensure compliance of at least two metres, plus allowing for at least two years’ growth. We continually work with our contractors and cutting teams to ensure they remain sensitive to aesthetics and neighbourhood character wherever they can, while ensuring that we remain compliant with Victorian state regulations which are enforced by Energy Safe Victoria.
“Later this year, we will use LiDAR technology mounted to helicopters to again scan vegetation near powerlines in Merrigum to ensure our cutting teams have the most accurate information.
“We continue to work with councils across Victoria to avoid large trees being planted under powerlines.”
While Powercor notifies customers before trimming trees on private property, no notification was required in this instance as the trees in question are located on council land.
The resident provided images, included here, showing a trimmed tree in close proximity to an untrimmed one.
