Thousands still without power as emergency storm response continues

We have backyard power lines here in NW Belconnen. Not sure how you can blame the ACT Government for what people planted in their backyards 50 years ago. Though you can blame them if they’ve refused permission to trim or remove dangerous trees.

On 1 January 2018, the part of ActewAGL that operates and maintains our ACT electricity and gas network changed its name to Evoenergy so it was the same entity that planted the trees.

I don’t have any sympathy for them at all.

Didn’t know that Evo or any of its predecessors or even government planted trees in peoples back yards now or at anytime in the last 50 years or so since the homes in this area where built.

A lot of “street” trees have fallen on powerlines, JC.

Not all Canberra suburbs have powerlines in their backyards.

JC,
Yes that’s a very strange claim, that unsurprisingly doesn’t have supporting evidence to back it up.

Why on earth would CR think an electricity supplier planted the trees. Mind boggling.

And if a government was responsible, it was the Federal Government, who was in charge at the time the areas were built.

I’m not in a position to apportion responsibility for the trees except in relation to my immediate neighbourhood. The tree that cut off our power was in a backyard. It would have been planted by a previous house owner some decades ago. A number of street trees fell over too. They were street plantings from the early 1970s. The old National Capital Development Commission may have had something to do with that, but I can’t be sure. They probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

I had no idea ACTEW AGL was in the tree-planting game. If they were, then that’s not great, but I would be surprised if they planted the ones that fell over near us.

I know you like to split hairs chewy so lets accept that Actew/Evo or whatever name they use/used are owned/controlled by the ACT Government so it’s fair to say the government made the decision.

Also, despite what you are saying, a lot of suburbs don’t have powerlines in their back yards and there are lots of street powerlines. Go for a drive.

Capital Retro,
There’s nothing remotely “splitting hairs” about it.

The company didn’t exist when most of these trees were planted and have never been involved in anything remotely like that type of activity.

They are a corporate entity only half owned by the government and half owned by private interests, so attempting to link them to trees falling over is absolute garbage.

On the same point, we also didn’t have self government when a lot of these trees were planted, so even blaming the ACT Government is stretching it.

And lastly, despite your claims, almost all older suburbs have backyard powerlines because that’s where they put the easements for all services at the time and the way the suburbs were designed. I don’t need to go for “a drive”, they can easily be seen on the ACT mapping system and the easement layer.

There are very few overhead powerlines in the ACT that run along streets and would be subject to government planted nature strips.

Sure there are some in every (older) suburb but for the most part the power lines in suburban ACT run in the backyards. This was another of those NCDC design decisions all those years ago to shield us from pesky visual pollution from overhead wires. Something I know you are so passionate about.

Oh and to answer your question above re light rail it’s running fine. It has been designed with redundant power feeds and is underground. So all good. Besides the storm the other day went past Gungahlin, my place was right on the edge of the storm. The centre of the storm the other day cut across Belconnen towards Hall.

It doesn’t really matter that much who planted the trees. The facts are that inappropriate trees were planted near powerlines and rather than removing them, it’s been left to
mother nature to bring them down.

The questions are: 1. What will they be replaced with and
2. Will the ACT Government now remove trees that potentially damage infrustructure?

People in Belconnen really need to lobby the Government and demand they
sharpen some axes.

All fixed, I was expecting a few more days of no power; they seem to be getting through the work.

As a resident of the affected area in northwest Belconnen, I can confirm that we have backyard power lines and the trees growing near them are in people’s backyards. The tree that knocked out my power certainly was.

What authority does the ACT Government have to start chopping down trees on private land? The only scope I see for government involvement is in granting permission to remove trees where homeowners request it. Replacements would be up to the homeowner.