Wildfire plans and tree clearing in New South Wales: ISSC Guide 3, bushfire danger period plans and total fire ban days

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It restates two guides and the index page of the Electricity Industry Safety Steering Committee (ISSC), published on the NSW Government energy site and read on October 9, 2026. ISSC Guide 3 is dated November 2016. ISSC Guide 33 carries the date August 2026 on its cover. What it says about the 2014 regulation is how ISSC Guide 3 describes it, not the regulation's own text. The side by side with other regions is on the guide to utility wildfire plans and tree clearing.

Who the guides are for

ISSC Guide 3 is titled the Guide for the Management of Vegetation in the Vicinity of Electricity Assets. It describes itself as a set of requirements for managing the risks of vegetation near electricity assets for public safety, community amenity and supply reliability. It is written for network operators, the businesses responsible for the safe operation of a distribution network. It says three instruments require an operator to have systems to manage safety, reliability and fire risks to a level that is as low as reasonably practicable: the Electricity Supply (Safety and Network Management) Regulation 2014, the Work Health Safety Act 2011 and a code of practice on electricity transmission and distribution asset management. Guide 33 lists Ausgrid, Endeavour Energy, Essential Energy, Sydney Trains and Transgrid as the operators its working group consulted.

Bushfire danger period plan

Schedule 1 of Guide 3, at clause 3.3, says that under the 2014 regulation a network operator must develop and carry out a plan that specifically deals with the higher risk from vegetation hazards in the bushfire danger period. It says bushfire risk assessments are to be done as part of that plan or the operator's general hazard identification, to find and fix vegetation hazards that pose a particular risk of starting a bushfire. The guide says the fixing is to happen in a time frame suited to the risk, in relation to the start of the bushfire danger period. It defines that period as the statutory bushfire danger period set by the Rural Fire Service.

Clearances as the guide words them

Guide 3 prints minimum clearance tables by voltage, conductor type and span length. They run from 0.5 metres for covered and insulated low voltage conductors on short spans to several metres for bare conductors on long spans, and the guide says the clearances are empirically derived from the experience of the electricity distribution industry in New South Wales. The points it states in plain terms are these.

Item	Guide 3 wording	Clause
Bare conductors in bushfire prone areas	Table clearances increased by 0.5 metres	S1 - 1.2
Around a pole	Minimum 2 metres in all directions, whatever the pole is made of	S1 - 1.3
Around a tower	Minimum 3 metres in all directions around the structure, or a 12 metre radius from the centre, whichever is greater	S1 - 1.4
Kiosk substations and switching cubicles	No vegetation overhanging within 2 metres of the top; where there is no easement, cleared 1 metre horizontally and 2 metres above	S1 - 1.5
Major substations	3 metres around the external fence; in bushfire prone areas a total 10 metre asset protection zone with only maintained lawn or grasses	S1 - 1.6
Street light luminaires	2 metres in all directions, 1 metre above	S1 - 1.7

Guide 3 says vegetation found inside the table clearances is treated as a grow-in vegetation hazard and fixed as the guide requires. It also names fall-in vegetation hazards, which are to be identified in the operator's vegetation management and asset inspection processes and assessed as far as is reasonably practicable. Guide 3 treats exact distances for spans outside its tables as a decision for the operator.

Trees and the law, as Guide 3 summarises it

Guide 3 says Part 5 of the 2014 regulation controls removal and trimming of trees by network operators. As the guide describes section 36, an operator must not remove a tree, or trim it so that it is substantially damaged, unless that is necessary to protect network assets or the safety of people or property, the operator has considered alternatives and found none feasible, and the operator is acting under a tree management plan. Sections 37 and 38 deal with those plans and with consulting councils and the public. The guide adds that work under such a plan can proceed without consent on any land except land the guide lists in clause 7.4, such as critical habitat of endangered species and wilderness areas, and that it names the Electricity Supply Act 1995 for powers of entry and special powers for bushfire prevention.

Total fire ban days

ISSC Guide 33 is the Guide for Network Configuration During Total Fire Ban Days. It says powerlines are a potential cause of bushfires and that the risk must be weighed against the loss of supply, since communities under threat also need power to fight fires. It covers whether reclosing devices are disabled and protection settings changed on those days, and rules for planned outages. On trees it says only that management of vegetation is important in reducing the risk of ignition and refers to Guide 3 for the minimum clearances. It says it does not override any legislation, regulation or safety rules.