Tree touching power lines in Western Australia, Australia: who is responsible
Western Power, an electricity network operator in Western Australia, publishes pages on who is responsible for trees near its lines, its yearly inspections and the 40 day notice. This page reports what those pages say.
This page is for tree owners. It reports what the named sources say and is not advice about your tree: for that, ask a qualified arborist or one of the offices under Who to call.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 9, 2026. Rules, fees and pay change: the source has the last word.
This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It describes the network operator's own pages. Other Australian states and territories have their own regulators and rules, and none is covered here.
Who is responsible
The Western Power page Keeping your vegetation clear says homeowners and occupiers must keep trees on their property clear of powerlines through the year, and that the duty to trim trees on private property falls on the resident, who need not be the homeowner. It gives a three-tree diagram: a tree planted on the verge is the responsibility of the local council, and trees on Property A and Property B are the responsibility of each property's occupier. It cites section 54 of the Energy Operators (Powers) Act 1979 for the responsibility. It says the Act assigns the duty to the occupier, but it is common for landlords to remain responsible under a tenancy agreement, and that an occupant who receives a notice forwards it to the landlord or property manager if they are responsible.
What the operator does
The page Our vegetation inspection program says the operator runs an annual check of its powerlines for trees within the clearance zone, and checks the service wire connecting a property for encroachment within the property. It says the responsible party (occupant, land owner or local government) is notified by a 40 day notice, and that a second contractor then re-inspects and cuts back anything that remains in the clearance zone. It calls these default cuts and says they are done solely to maintain a safe, reliable network. It says it may recover the cost of a cut if the tree it cut was cultivated, meaning planted, deliberately irrigated or pruned for a reason other than clearance, and charges per span, the length of wire from one pole to the next. It says notices and any invoice for a default cut are issued in the name of the electricity account holder.
Clearance and the notice
The Keeping your vegetation clear page says clearance zones are determined by the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, that the operator's own safety policy treats the zone either side of a line as clear to the sky, and that overhanging trees are put on 40 day notices. It says trees that have grown until nearly touching the wires are not safe to be cut by anyone except its fault crews, and that the operator does not cut vegetation from around service wires. The page Vegetation notices says notices are delivered by hand at the inspection or mailed, list the trees and the clearances required, and are tagged on the trees with coloured ribbon. It says a safety notice is issued when vegetation is within a 30 cm clearance zone around the service wire, and that the operator does not return to re-inspect or cut around a service wire.
Emergencies
The page Managing trees near powerlines gives 13 13 51 to report an electrical emergency and says that where vegetation has grown too close to lines, the work is best left to someone qualified.
Who to call
- Western Power, 13 13 51: reporting an electrical emergency, per the operator page
- Western Power, vegetation notices: what a 40 day notice and a safety notice say
- Your local council or shire: the operator page says a tree planted on the verge is the council's responsibility
- Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety: the body the operator page says determines the clearance zones