The significant project will see more than 10 crews from six depots across the Northern and North Coast regions working along the line over 10 days replacing 35 power poles, 53 cross arms, 12 electrical components and general line maintenance.

A helicopter will also be utilised on Tuesday 21 February to get a birds eye view of the network around the Brimbin Swamp and Cundletown area, to ensure there are no hazards that could affect the reliability of supply for customers, and to drop gear to work sites along the line.

Essential Energy’s regional manager North Coast, Brendon Neyland, said the project would take place along 45 kilometres of powerline, bringing benefits to customers from Taree to Coopernook, Johns River and as far north as Kew.

“Significant planning has gone in to this project to complete the large amount of maintenance while minimising the inconvenience to customers,” Brendon said.

“Extra crews from Dubbo, Wellington, Narromine, Mudgee and Dunedoo will assist Taree teams meaning customers will not be affected by consecutive outages.”

A planned power outage will be necessary on Friday 17 February 2017, for customers in the John’s River area, with some smaller outages affecting customers located elsewhere along the line.

“Essential Energy will provide written notification to customers if they are affected by an outage during this project.”

“I want to thank customers in advance for their patience and understanding as we undertake this work,” Brendon said.