Fibreglass power pole replacement scheme puts hidden tax on NSW electricity bills

Household power bills are set for a marginal increase thanks to a bizarre and expensive method of bushfire-proofing the state’s electricity infrastructure.

Household power bills are set to rise after state-owned Essential Energy determined it will replace timber power poles across NSW with fibreglass poles by 2029.

In a submission to the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) in April, Essential Energy quietly reported its decision to switch all its power poles from hardwood timber to a composite of fibreglass and resin.

The decision was in part made due to increasing hardwood supply issues, due to rolling stop-work orders and regulatory constraints placed on the NSW timber sector by the state-run Environmental Protection Agency.

Essential Energy has said as a direct result the average household power bill would marginally increase by $1.54 per year as a result.

A spokesperson for the AER said they could not confirm the power bill increases resulting directly from the power pole transition. However, on April 30 the AER signed off on Essential Energy’s revenue submission which will see families pay an average of $39 more per year and $83 more for businesses.

File image: Missing power pole, burnt to ashes on the Genoa-Mallacoota road in Victoria after the 2019-20 bushfires. Picture: David Caird

Composite poles are more expensive than timber but are cheaper than power poles made from concrete and steel and are designed to be more fire resistant.

More than 2,200 timber poles in bushfire prone areas across the state will be replaced per year with an additional 9000 older poles to be replaced per year. Essential Energy has around 1.33 million poles excluding street lighting columns in its network and is looking to fully transition to composite poles by 2029.

Currently hardwood timber is used to build more than 80 per cent of the state’s electricity poles.

A spokesperson for Essential Energy said the reason for the switch was to increase network resilience in areas prone to bushfires as well as the effects of statewide hardwood timber supply constraints.

“As part of the regulatory submission process, Essential Energy engaged extensively with our customers and stakeholders to work collaboratively to ensure we deliver a network fit for the future, including discussion for network investment including the cost,” the spokesperson said.

“Essential Energy also engaged with the Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) and timber pole producers to understand the hardwood supply challenges of industry to meet requirements for the end-of-life installations.”

File image: Essential Energy staff work to fix a broken power pole. Picture: Tim Jarrett

Private energy distributors Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy will continue to use predominantly hardwood poles.

An Endeavour Energy spokesperson said 90 per cent of their pole network continued to be made up of hardwood in order to keep bill costs down.

“Hardwood poles continue to be used in existing overhead areas with low bushfire risk as a cost-effective solution for our customers,” the spokesperson said

“Alternative options such as concrete and steel poles or timber poles wrapped with fire-retardant mesh are used where they provide additional resilience benefits in areas of high bushfire risk.”

Australian Forest Products Association NSW chief executive James Jooste said the loss of the power pole contracts was devastating for the state’s timber industry.

“The government has baked in long term increases to electricity costs by switching to more expensive and less sustainable power poles,” he said.

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