Climate change is not the only factor to watch out for regarding bushfires in Australia. According to Electrical Trades Union (ETU), faulty power lines are also considered life-threatening bushfire risks.
In 2009, the ETU found that faulty electrical poles had caused five of the black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, which killed 173 people.
Now, the ETU has launched a campaign that calls for upgrading power lines, poles, and wires across Australia. The union also slammed the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) for reducing electricity companies' budgets by $10 billion in 10 years, resulting in cuts to upgrade and maintenance projects.
ETU national secretary Allen Hicks said the reduced budget has left the electricity grid “dangerously neglected.”
“This is a matter of life and death for communities and workers – we cannot wait until after a horrific bushfire for change,” Hicks said, as reported by The Transcontinental. “Commonwealth and state governments need to act now before a coroner's report forces them to.”
The ETU is calling for federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor to change AER's decision-making process to prevent cost-cutting for maintenance and network upgrades. It also called for improving the regulator's assessment of maintenance and upgrade proposals.
Commenting on the campaign, AER chair Clare Savage said the regulator's role is ensuring that consumers pay no more than is necessary for safe and reliable electricity provided by distribution networks.
“To do this, we need to strike a balance between providing incentives for investment by the network business to maintain its poles and wires and how much this will impact on the everyday household power bill,” Savage said in a statement released through the Australian Associated Press.
“That's why we look at what is the most efficient spending to accommodate the reliability and safety requirements of the distribution networks, including expenditure to mitigate bushfire risks.”
