Wildfire plans and tree clearing in Victoria: Energy Safe Victoria and line clearance
What Energy Safe Victoria says about electric line clearance in a bushfire-prone state: the Electric Line Clearance regulations, who keeps trees clear, declared areas, inspection frequency by bushfire risk area, and the rules for non-electrical vegetation workers.
Checked against the sources at the bottom of this page on October 8, 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 restates three Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) pages as read on October 8, 2026: the page on legislation and areas for electric line clearance and bushfire mitigation, the page on managing trees near powerlines, and the trees and vegetation questions and answers. ESV is the Victorian safety regulator for electricity. The comparison of every region is on the guide to utility wildfire plans and tree clearing.
What the line clearance rules are for
ESV's line clearance team says its work serves the objectives of the Electricity Safety (Electric Line Clearance) Regulations 2026. The purpose of those regulations, as ESV puts it, is to prevent vegetation growing too close to electric lines, because that can cause electrocution, fire including bushfire, and a less reliable supply, and can endanger the vegetation workers doing the clearance. The team evaluates the electric line clearance management plans that responsible persons must prepare, and checks compliance with minimum clearance spaces. The managing trees page names the Electricity Safety (Electric Line Clearance) Interim Regulations 2025 in one place, so ESV's own pages cite two instrument names. The ESV pages read here do not print clearance distances in metres, and the page on managing trees points to Regulation 616 of the Electricity Safety (General) Regulations 2019 for the minimum distances for vegetation to be pruned from electric lines.
Who keeps trees clear
On public land in a declared urban area, section 84C of the Electricity Safety Act makes the council responsible for keeping trees on that land clear of an electric line that is not private. ESV lists the Government Gazette orders that declared the areas, from 1986 and 1995, and says maps are available on request. In the questions and answers, ESV says trees on the nature strip are the responsibility of either the electricity distribution business or the council. A tree on private property near a service line to the owner's house is the property owner's responsibility, and ESV says to clear service lines before vegetation grows to within one metre in any direction. For lines outside the property boundary, it is the distribution business.
Inspection frequency
ESV's answer on how often vegetation is checked says trees in Hazardous Bushfire Risk Areas are typically checked at least once every year, and in Low Bushfire Risk Areas typically between one and three years.
Rules for tree workers
The managing trees page says minimum safe distances for people and equipment, including cranes and elevating work platforms, are set in Regulation 614 of the Electricity Safety (General) Regulations 2019. It says a person doing vegetation management work is exempt from the regulated minimum distances if they work for a responsible person, hold a certificate from an ESV-approved tree clearing training course, and comply with the Blue Book and the Vegetation Management Rules. The questions and answers add that distribution business and council vegetation workers must be trained in both electricity safety and tree pruning, and that private companies doing other tree work near lines follow No Go Zone rules. The Vegetation Management Rules replaced the June 2011 guidelines for tree clearing by authorised persons from September 16, 2013. For equipment, see the guide to working near power lines.