Earlier this month Powercor revealed that it would double the number of wooden poles it replaced annually from 1200 to 2200.

But Member for Polwarth Richard Riordan told state parliament that with 570,000 poles in Powercor's network, it would take 259 years to replace them all.

Victoria's director of energy safety Paul Fearon said it was "self-evident that there will be a higher rate of replacement required". "Absolutely I can say categorically that the hitherto rate of replacement is quite unlikely to be the rate at which that business will be required to replace," he said.

Mr Fearon said that they had always known there was a "bow wave of replacement that will eventually have to be dealt with", but just how big and how quickly was still to be examined.

Energy Safe Victoria will release its draft independent report in May which will focus on Powercor's inspection practices, particularly the identification of poles with cavities in them.

"So far we have found no systemic issues with power poles in the area," Mr Fearon said. "However, we expanded our investigation after community members identified potentially defective poles on the Sparrow Spur."

He said ESV was in the process of analysing Powercor's data in relation to the company's own inspection of 19,000 poles by comparing it to data collected by ESV when it independently tested 1209 poles.

Mr Fearon said he had expected external legal advice this month into whether Powercor had breached the Act in relation to the cause of the Terang and Garvoc fires on St Patrick's Day last year, but he was still waiting.

"Energy Safe Victoria will hold Powercor to account and prosecute if necessary if they have broken the law," he said. "We will also continue to test and challenge their systems to ensure they are fit for purpose and safe into the future."

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