Powercor will check an additional 17,000 wooden poles across the south-west to dampen community concerns in the lead-up to the bushfire season.
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The electricity company has replaced nine poles at The Sisters and Ecklin after the condition of degraded poles was highlighted by St Patrick's Day bushfire victim Jill Porter and fellow dairy farmer, Simon Craven, of Ecklin.
Mrs Porter independently engaged Groundline Engineering to conduct state-of-the-art seismic waves testing on poles in December, which revealed a number of degraded wooden poles at The Sisters. Eight poles have now been replaced at The Sisters.
A pole at Mr Craven's property was highlighted as degraded in late December and that was replaced on Thursday last week.
The dairy farmers are part of a social media campaign cataloguing dodgy power poles in the south-west.
A Powercor spokeswoman said the company took its responsibility to ensure the network was safe and reliable "very seriously" .
"We understand there is heightened sensitivity and concern in the community following last year’s fires so have chosen to conduct additional inspection of about 17,000 poles in the region," she said.
"These inspections will begin this month and cover an area from Warrnambool to Port Campbell, and to Hamilton, including areas impacted by the (St Patrick's Day) fires.
"These inspections will determine when poles need to be repaired or replaced in line with Victoria’s regulatory requirements and is in addition to our regular inspection program.
“Our extensive asset inspection and maintenance program is conducted year-round in line with our regulatory obligations and audited by Energy Safe Victoria.”
Mrs Porter said if Powercor was currently meeting its ESV requirements that raised questions about the standard of the company’s responsibilities.
“Powercor has said it has mitigated the risk leading into this bushfire season, so why is it now we are seeing the company look at another 17,000 poles,” she said.
“There are questions about whether ESV is powerful or capable enough to ensure the safety of communities. There are also questions about Powercor’s asset checks, involving the timing and frequency of that program and its use of up-to-date and accurate technology.
“We welcome Powercor doing anything additional to make communities safe in the the lead-up to the bushfire season. This is an opportunity for Powercor to lead the way, to substantially change the way it does business and to make community safety the priority.”
Member for Wannon Dan Tehan said the safety of communities was paramount.
"And the priority of government and I will continue to fight to ensure all of our energy infrastructure assets are safe and that the community has confidence that it is safe," he said.
In December Mr Tehan said he had held talks with Powercor chief executive officer Timothy Rourke.
"The hope is that we will see better engagement with the community from now on," he said.
Mr Tehan, the federal minister for education, said had also held talks with federal energy minister Angus Taylor.
He said the energy minister had instructed regulatory bodies Energy Safe Victoria and the Australian Energy Market Operator to have a specific focus on the Victorian electricity network in the new year.
