Overhead Service Line Down or Damaged? Here's Who You're Actually Allowed to Call

It usually happens in a storm. A branch comes down, or a truck clips the wire on its way past, and suddenly the cable that runs from the power pole in the street to your roof is sagging, sparking or lying across the driveway. The first question everyone asks is the same: who do I call? And the honest answer is that it's probably not who you think.

First things first: stay well away from it

Every fallen wire has to be treated as live until the network proves otherwise — no exceptions. Both Sydney networks are blunt about this in their safety rules. Endeavour Energy's Electrical Safety Rules require any fallen conductor to be regarded as live and guarded from at least eight metres away until it has been made safe, and Ausgrid's rules set the same eight-metre distance for fallen or unidentified wires. Eight metres is roughly the length of two parked cars, and the reason it's so generous is that electricity can spread through the ground around a live fallen wire — you don't have to touch the cable to cop a shock.

So before you ring anyone: keep everyone, including pets, well back, and warn neighbours or passers-by from a distance. If the wire is on a car with someone inside, tell them to stay put. If there's fire or someone has been injured, call 000 first.

Call the network, not your electrician

The very first phone call for a wire that is down, sparking or dangerously low is to your electricity distributor's emergency line — Endeavour Energy on 131 003 if you're in Western Sydney, the Blue Mountains or the Illawarra fringe, or Ausgrid's emergency line if you're in the inner, northern or eastern suburbs. Their crews are the only people allowed to confirm a fallen wire is dead, and under their own rules an authorised person has to identify and make the conductor safe before anything else happens.

A regular electrician — even a very good one — cannot legally do this part. It's the distributor's network until it reaches your property, and their safety rules restrict that work to people they have specifically authorised.

So whose wire is it, actually?

This is where it gets interesting. The overhead service line runs from the distributor's pole to the point of attachment on your house. The pole and the network behind it belong to the distributor. But under the Service and Installation Rules of NSW (SIRNSW), the service line to your property and everything from the point of attachment onwards is largely the customer's responsibility to fund and maintain.

There's a helpful exception. SIRNSW clause 3.1.6 notes that where an existing service cable is in poor condition or isn't the modern PVC or XLPE insulated type, the distributor — as part of its maintenance responsibility — may fund the replacement of the service line itself. Anything needed to bring your side up to standard, like raising a low point of attachment or replacing a damaged private bracket, is on you.

Why the repair needs a Level 2 ASP

Once the network has made the scene safe, the actual repair or reconnection is restricted work. Under SIRNSW clause 1.14.2, connecting or disconnecting an installation at the connection point or service protection fuse may only be done by someone authorised in writing by the distributor — in practice, a Level 2 Accredited Service Provider. SIRNSW is equally clear that only accredited service providers are permitted to perform overhead service work, and replacing a service line specifically calls for a Level 2 ASP with overhead (Class C) accreditation.

Before your power goes back on, the ASP also has to test the work — polarity, insulation resistance and earthing integrity — rather than just joining the wires and hoping. That testing requirement is written into the Rules, and it's the difference between a safe reconnection and a hidden fault waiting in your roof.

The takeaway

If a service line is down or damaged: stay eight metres clear, ring the network's emergency line, then call a Level 2 ASP to repair and reconnect. High Demand Electrical is a Level 2 ASP working across both Ausgrid and Endeavour Energy areas, so once the network has made things safe, we can usually take it from there the same day — repair, test and reconnect, all above board.