Powerline push: Farmers demand slice of Andrews’ $190m easement tax

Farmers are demanding a slice of Victoria’s $190 million easement tax to offset property devaluations from massive transmission lines.

At least 250 landholders along the Western Renewables Link - from Sydenham to Bulgana - are already wrestling with AusNet over compensation.

Farmers are demanding a share of the $190 million in easement taxes AusNet pays the Victorian Government each year, to offset the impact of a new web of high-voltage transmission lines being slung across their properties — scarring the skyline and slashing land values.

“There’s a strong argument for this tax being returned to farmers in exchange for hosting infrastructure on their land which benefits the whole community,” Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said. .

“Hosting transmission towers on your land can fundamentally affect what you farm.

“Farmers should be properly compensated for this through ongoing payments on a commercial consent basis.”

As it stands AusNet passes the cost of the Government’s easement tax straight back to Victorian electricity consumers, as part of the supply charge that makes up about half most households’ and businesses’ power bills.

The VFF’s call comes as a massive wave of new renewable projects sweeps through southeast Australia, driving governments to carve a vast new network of transmission lines across farmland to feed solar and wind power interstate and into the capitals.

Major new transmission lines are planned across southern NSW and Victoria.

AEMO recently released its preferred route for the 400km Victorian-NSW interconnector, which will swing 500 kilovolt double-circuit overhead transmission lines between 60m towers from Ballarat North to Kerang and across the Murray River to what has been called the Dinawan Connections Hub, about 16km south of Coleambally.

Other projects include the 900km EnergyConnect project from Wagga Wagga in NSW to Robertstown in South Australia, plus construction of the NSW HumeLink, a new 500kV transmission line connecting Wagga Wagga, Bannaby and Maragle.

Within Victoria the Government is planning even more transmission lines across six renewable energy zones - from Gippsland to the Goulburn Valley right out to the state’s west.

At least 250 landholders along the Western Renewables Link - from Sydenham to Bulgana - are already wrestling with AusNet over compensation, which under current rules is limited to the market value of the narrow easement strip across their properties.

Moorabool and Central Highlands Power Alliance chair Emma Muir said “if there’s a tax being collected by the State Government, there’s an opportunity for them to compensate landholders”.

She said once transmission lines and towers were built they not only limited production - especially for potato growers along the corridor, but “forever” devalued farms by at least 50 per cent.

“If you have wind towers on your property you’re getting $20,000 to $25,000 per tower per year,” Ms Muir said.

“If you were getting $25,000 a year from transmission towers, perhaps you could live with it.”

The transmission easement tax was established in 2005 to subsidise Alcoa’s Portland aluminium smelter’s electricity costs.

But while Alcoa’s subsidy has been wound back, the Labor Government annual easement tax take that has grown from $103 million when it came to power in 2014 to $190 million in 2022-23.

Even Alcoa’s energy director Nick Eaton wrote to the Australian Energy Regulator complaining it had “allowed AusNet to recover a total of $868.1m over five years to pay the easement tax…(which is) more than 30 per cent of the total cost of the transmission system”.

The tax has soared on the back of rising land values, reaching the equivalent of $25,333 a hectare across AusNet’s 7500ha of easements along 6500kms of these high voltage transmission lines.

Victoria’s renewable energy boom and the rollout of even more transmission lines are set to swell the Government’s coffers even further.

But landholder resistance is starting to boil over across southeast Australia, with the Office of the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner Andrew Dyer reporting 111 of the 212 cases he dealt with last year were over transmission line disputes.

“New, major transmission power lines will have a range of challenges with affected landholders, neighbours and the broader community,” Mr Dyer said. “This is particularly so for greenfield transmission projects that require a new route path to be selected as well as acquisition of new easements along that route.”

When asked if the Government would redirect some of its easement tax to farmers Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio’s office said “landowners were (already) currently compensated for easements created on their land to host transmission infrastructure.

“This includes both for the towers and the lines that pass over the property.

“We’re engaging with communities and stakeholders on how renewable energy can deliver economic development opportunities for regional Victoria, as well as how landholders affected can continue to share the benefits of this transition.”