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Electricity Act 1992

Miscellaneous provisions relating to supply of electricity

61A: Electricity generators and electricity distributors must have safety management systems

You could also call this:

“Power companies need safety rules to keep people safe”

You need to know about safety rules for companies that make and distribute electricity. These companies must have a safety system to keep people and property safe.

If you make electricity, and your equipment can generate 10 megawatts or more, you need a safety system. If you distribute electricity, and your equipment can handle 10 million volt-amperes or more, you also need a safety system.

The safety system must try to stop the electricity supply from causing serious harm to people or significant damage to other people’s property.

The government can change these rules to require safety systems for smaller electricity makers and distributors.

Any changes to these rules are called secondary legislation. This means they must follow special rules about how they are published.

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Part 6 Miscellaneous provisions relating to supply of electricity

61AElectricity generators and electricity distributors must have safety management systems

  1. Every electricity generator and every electricity distributor that owns or operates an electricity supply system must implement and maintain, in accordance with regulations made under section 169, a safety management system.

  2. The safety management system must prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, the electricity supply system from presenting a significant risk of—

  3. serious harm to any member of the public; or
    1. significant damage to property owned by a person other than the electricity generator or electricity distributor.

      1. For the purposes of this Act, electricity supply system means,—

      2. in relation to an electricity generator, assets that, whether taken individually or as a whole, have a rated electricity generating capacity equal to, or greater than, 10 MW:
        1. in relation to an electricity distributor, assets that, whether taken individually or as a whole, are used, or designed or intended for use, in or in connection with the conversion, transformation, or conveyance of electricity at a capacity equal to, or greater than, 10 MVA.

          1. The Governor-General may, by Order in Council, make regulations for either or both of the following purposes:

          2. increasing the rated electricity generating capacity that applies under subsection (2)(a):
            1. increasing the capacity that applies under subsection (2)(b).

              1. Regulations under this section are secondary legislation (see Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019 for publication requirements).

              Notes
              • Section 61A: inserted, on , by section 12 of the Electricity Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 70).
              • Section 61A(1): replaced, on , by section 232 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (2015 No 70).
              • Section 61A(1A): inserted, on , by section 232 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (2015 No 70).
              • Section 61A(4): inserted, on , by section 3 of the Secondary Legislation Act 2021 (2021 No 7).
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