The City of Canning supports the conversion of overhead power to underground power achieved through a partnership between the State Government of Western Australia, Western Power, Horizon Power and Local Governments.
WA’s electrical network including the Perth CBD, was originally constructed overhead, but over time new technology has allowed us to move the network in high density areas to underground. This involves the removal of overhead power infrastructure (the Western Power wooden poles and wires) and the installation of new underground power and Light Emitting Diode (LED) streetlights.
In 1991 the State Government made a change that saw the power network for all new urban subdivisions be placed underground. Following major storms and outages in 1996, the idea of moving existing overhead networks underground heightened, and the State Underground Power Program (SUPP) was developed.
State Underground Power Program (SUPP) – the cost of sending power underground was shared between the State Government, Western Power, Local Government (LG) and property owners.
Currently there are two programs available to Local Governments to convert existing overhead power suburbs to underground power:
Network Renewal Undergrounding Program Pilot (NRUPP) – these are driven by Western Power and target areas with a high density of aging overhead assets.
and
Retrospective Undergrounding Projects (RUP) – these are generally funded directly by the Local Government and/or land developers.
Through previous State Underground Power Program (SUPP) projects there are now more homes and businesses within the City of Canning which now have enhanced streetscape aesthetics, improved power reliability and security, reduce maintenance costs and improve community safety.
Currently the City of Canning has two active projects:
Shelley East Retrospective Underground Project (RUP)
and
St James Network Renewal Undergrounding Program Pilot (NRUPP)
Should you have any queries, please take the time to read through the project pages and available documents prior to contacting the City as your question may already be addressed.