A tree on a power line: what to do right now
Keep everyone back, pets included, and treat the line and the tree as live. SafeWork NSW says that if any part of a branch touches a line, the whole branch, leaves and all, may be live, and that trees can conduct electricity even in dry weather. Don't touch the tree, and never try to trim near a line yourself. Call your network, listed below, or 000 if someone is hurt, has had a shock, or there's a fire. Stay back at least the distance your network gives.
Three kinds of line, three different answers
Street lines run between the poles along the road. Keeping trees off them is the network's job, though in some areas you still have to keep your own trees back from them.
The service line is the single wire from the street to your house. In most states we cover, your own tree near it is yours to keep clear.
Private poles and lines sit past the network's connection point, common on farms, acreage and long driveways. They're the owner's, and so are the trees around them.
Who clears what, state by state
| Street lines | The line to your house | Private poles and lines | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NSW: Ausgrid | Ausgrid, for its assets off private property | You clear your own tree to the boundary. Ausgrid clears a neighbour's tree and council land | The owner |
| NSW: Endeavour Energy | Trees growing on your property are yours to keep clear of all lines | Yours for your own trees. Endeavour acts on a neighbour's tree | The owner |
| NSW: Essential Energy | Essential, up to your connection point, though it can depend on whether a tree was planted | Not stated: ask Essential | The owner, using a trimmer qualified to work near the network |
| ACT: Evoenergy | Not confirmed for public trees | The homeowner, keeping trees at least 1 metre from service lines | The owner |
| Victoria | The distributor, even for your tree when the line is outside your boundary | You, before your tree grows within one metre of it | The owner, CitiPower and Powercor say |
| Queensland | Energex maintains lines to the first point of contact on your property, Noosa Council says | Not confirmed: ask Energex or Ergon Energy | Whoever controls the line, under the Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 |
| Western Australia | Planted verge trees: the local government or Main Roads WA. Natural ones: the network | Owners keep every tree on their property clear, all year | The owner, keeping trees at least two metres away |
| South Australia | SA Power Networks, including private trees hanging over the road reserve | Planted or nurtured trees are the owner's, Burnside says | The owner, beyond the connection point |
| Tasmania | TasNetworks, on public land and in its clearance zone | You, but hands off once a tree is within one metre | The owner: anything inside your boundary is yours |
| Northern Territory | Not confirmed: check Power and Water's website | Not confirmed | Not confirmed |
Who to call, network by network
- Ausgrid (Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter Valley)
- Endeavour Energy (Sydney's Greater West, the Blue Mountains, the Southern Highlands, the Illawarra and the NSW South Coast)
- Essential Energy (regional, rural and remote NSW)
- Evoenergy (the ACT)
- CitiPower (Melbourne's CBD and inner suburbs)
- Powercor (western and regional Victoria)
- Jemena (north-west Melbourne)
- United Energy (Melbourne's east and south-east, and the Mornington Peninsula)
- AusNet (eastern and north-eastern Victoria, and Melbourne's north and east)
- Energex (south east Queensland)
- Ergon Energy (the rest of Queensland)
- Western Power (Perth and the south west)
- Horizon Power (regional and remote WA)
- SA Power Networks (South Australia)
- TasNetworks (Tasmania)
- Power and Water (the Northern Territory): see Power and Water's own website, and 000 in an emergency
How far back should you stay?
Use your own network's figure, because they differ. For a fallen line, Ausgrid says at least 8 metres or 2 car lengths, and Endeavour Energy, Essential Energy and ACT ESA say 8 metres too, as does Western Power for a damaged line. Energy Safe Victoria says 8 to 10 metres. SA Power Networks says at least 10 metres from a fallen line and anything it's touching, and Noosa Council says 10 m from vegetation touching lines.
Near standing lines, the figures are about who may work there. SafeWork NSW says an ordinary person should not climb a tree within 3 metres of electric lines or cut branches that might come within 3 metres of them. Queensland's Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 sets a 3 metre exclusion zone for untrained people near lines up to 132 kV, and TasNetworks keeps people, tools and equipment at least 6.4 metres from a distribution line.
Keeping your tree off the line to the house
Act early, while there's still a gap. Energy Safe Victoria says to clear trees and shrubs before they grow within one metre of the service line. Evoenergy asks for at least 1 metre from service lines and 1.5 metres from powerlines, and recommends 2.5 metres to allow for three years of regrowth.
Once a tree is within one metre of the service line, TasNetworks says not to touch it yourself; call a qualified arborist, or TasNetworks to ask about a temporary disconnection so the tree can be cleared safely. Endeavour Energy says another option is having the line's attachment point moved away from the tree.
Energy Safe Victoria recorded more than 40 safety incidents involving vegetation and service lines to houses in the 2 years to December 2025.
Who's allowed to work near the lines?
Inside the no go zone around a network's lines, only workers that network authorises can do tree work. CitiPower and Powercor, United Energy and TasNetworks all say so, and Ausgrid uses its own contractors there. Evoenergy says trees that have grown past its minimum distances must be trimmed by an arborist it approves. Ask any arborist which networks they're authorised for before they quote.
On private lines, Essential Energy says trees mustn't touch the lines, reach them when swaying in strong winds or hit them if they fall.
What you can do, and what's for the network or an arborist
You can
- Keep everyone well back from a tree touching any line.
- Call the network's faults line, or 000 if someone's hurt.
- Watch for growth heading toward the line to your house, and book someone early.
- Ask your network about disconnecting the service line or moving its attachment point.
Leave to an arborist
- Any tree on a street line: that's the network, not an arborist.
- Anything inside the no go zone, only by an arborist that network authorises.
- Trees around private lines and poles, by a trimmer qualified to work near the network.
Trees near power lines: what to do next
For anything touching a street line, we'd ring the network's faults number and keep everyone back until they've been. For the line to the house, we wouldn't wait for contact: we'd book an arborist that network authorises while there's still a metre or more of gap, and ask the network whether the line can be disconnected or its attachment point moved. And we'd never let anyone without that authorisation start.
Want an arborist to look at it?
Tell us the job and your postcode, and a local arborist calls you to talk it through.