The Federal Government’s announcement of the construction of thousands of kilometres of new electricity transmission lines to promote the switch from coal power to renewable energy will see large areas of predominantly rural land acquired for the new 500kv transmission lines. RMB Lawyers Building & Construction Division explains the ramifications for landholders:
Currently two major projects are underway within the Federal Government’s planned upgrade to energy infrastructure.
Project EnergyConnect has already acquired approximately 900km of land and HumeLink will need approximately 360km. Further projects such as VNI West are currently in discussions.
Many of the landholders to be affected by projects such as EnergyConnect and HumeLink may not have even heard of the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 (Just Terms Act), let alone the concept of compulsory acquisition, until receiving notices from Transgrid that their land is going to fall within the preferred route for the project.
Section 10A of the Just Terms Act provides that the acquiring authority must enter into negotiations with the landholder to acquire the land through agreement for a minimum six months. The aim of these discussions is to determine an amount of compensation which would restore the landholder “in money form, to the position which he enjoyed prior to the taking of the easement.”[1]
Section 55 of the Just Terms Act details the heads of compensation which need to be considered when determining what is appropriate compensation. These include the land’s market value, any special value to the owners, losses attributable to severance or disturbance, and changes in value to adjoining land.
Landholders should be aware that the recent announcement to provide affected landholders with an annual sum of $10,000 per year per kilometre of transmission line on their property for 20 years is in addition to the compensation payable under the Just Terms Act.
If agreement cannot be reached then taking court action is the only option available to landholders to ensure that they are being adequately compensated.
Compulsory acquisition is a very complex area of the law and seeking advice from experienced professionals is essential to ensuring that you are receiving the appropriate amount of compensation and are not signing up to an agreement which may have unforeseen future consequences for your use of the land.
RMB Lawyers have had considerable dealings with Transgrid and the acquisition of land for Project EnergyConnect and HumeLink.
If you or yiur family are concerned about compulsory land acquisition, rour first step should be to contact our office to arrange a free consultation. You can contact us by by phone or our 'Ask a Question' tool on our website.
[1] Longeranong Pty Ltd v Electricity Trust of South Australia (1990) 55 SASR 493.