South Australian Current Acts South Australian Current Acts1—Electricity infrastructure taken
not to have merged with land
(1) This clause
applies to electricity infrastructure that is or was owned or operated by an
electricity corporation or State-owned company and is situated on, above or
under land that does not or did not belong to the electricity corporation or
State-owned company.
(2) Subject to any
agreement in writing to the contrary, the ownership of
electricity infrastructure to which this clause applies will be taken never to
have been affected by its affixation or annexation to the land.
2—Statutory easement relating to infrastructure
(1) A body specified
by proclamation for the purposes of this clause will have an easement over
land where—
(a)
electricity infrastructure owned or operated by the body is on, above or under
the land and the land does not belong to the body; and
(b) that
infrastructure was, before a date specified in the proclamation, owned or
operated by an electricity corporation or State-owned company and the land did
not belong to the electricity corporation or State-owned company.
(2) The easement
entitles the specified body—
(a) to
maintain the relevant electricity infrastructure on, above or under the land
affected by the easement;
(b) to
enter the land, by its agents or employees, at any reasonable time, for the
purpose of operating, examining, maintaining, repairing, modifying or
replacing the relevant electricity infrastructure;
(c) to
bring on to the land any vehicles or equipment that may be reasonably
necessary for any of the above purposes.
(3) The powers
conferred by the easement must be exercised so as to minimise, as far as
reasonably practicable, interference with the enjoyment of the land by persons
lawfully occupying the land.
(4) Section 47(3) to
(10) of the Electricity Act 1996 (and any regulations made for the
purposes of any of those provisions) apply to the carrying out of work under
this clause on public land (within the meaning of that section) in the same
way as to the carrying out of work on public land under that section.
(5) The specified body
must make good any damage caused by the exercise of powers under this clause
as soon as practicable or pay reasonable compensation for the damage.
(6) If the specified
body has an easement relating to electricity infrastructure over another
person's land otherwise than by virtue of this clause or clause 5 of Schedule
2 of the Electricity Corporations Act 1994 , the application of the
easement under this clause to the land is excluded to the extent necessary to
avoid the same part of the land being subject to both easements.
(6a) If the specified
body is an electricity corporation, the application of any easement that the
body has under clause 5 of Schedule 2 of the
Electricity Corporations Act 1994 is excluded.
(7) The specified body
may, by instrument in writing—
(a)
suspend or limit rights or impose conditions on the exercise of rights arising
under the easement under this clause; or
(b)
surrender (in whole or in part) the easement under this clause,
and such an instrument has effect according to its terms.
(7a) Nothing prevents
more than one body from having an easement under this clause over the same
land or in relation to the same electricity infrastructure.
(8) An easement under
this clause need not be registered.
(9) However, the
Registrar-General must, on application by the specified body, note an easement
under this clause on each certificate of title, or Crown lease, affected by
the easement.
(10) An application
under this clause—
(a) need
not include a plan of the easement;
(b) must
include a schedule of all certificates of title and Crown leases affected by
the easement.
(11) The
Registrar-General is entitled to act on the basis of information included in
the application and is not obliged to do anything to verify the accuracy of
that information.
2A—Building and development work for substations and transformers
regarded as complying
All building and development work carried out before 30 September 1999 in
relation to substations or transformers owned or operated by an electricity
corporation or State-owned company at that date will be regarded as complying
with the statutory and regulatory requirements applicable at the time the work
was carried out.
3—Liability of certain bodies to council rates or amounts in lieu of
rates
(1) The following
provisions apply in relation to the liability of a State-owned company to pay
rates under the Local Government Act 1934 , despite the provisions of
that Act:
(a) a
State-owned company is liable to pay rates;
(b) land
and buildings of a State-owned company are rateable property within the
meaning of that Act;
(c) the
following are not rateable property within the meaning of that Act:
(i)
plant or equipment used by a State-owned company in
connection with the generation, transmission or distribution of electricity
(whether or not the plant or equipment is situated on land owned by the
corporation);
(ii)
easements, rights of way or other similar rights
(including such rights arising by virtue of a licence) that have been granted
or operate in connection with the generation, transmission or distribution of
electricity.
(2) Despite the
Local Government Act 1934 , the following are not rateable property
within the meaning of that Act:
(a)
plant or equipment (other than electricity generating plant and substations
for converting, transforming or controlling electricity) used by a body
specified by proclamation for the purposes of this clause in connection with
the generation, transmission or distribution of electricity (whether or not
the plant or equipment is situated on land owned by the body);
(b)
easements, rights of way or other similar rights (including such rights
arising by virtue of a licence) that have been granted or operate in
connection with the generation, transmission or distribution of electricity.
(3) Despite the
Local Government Act 1934 , the Governor may, by proclamation, declare
that the rates payable under that Act in respect of specified land on which is
situated any electricity generating plant, or substation for converting,
transforming or controlling electricity, used by a body specified in the
proclamation are reduced to a specified amount or an amount determined in a
specified manner.
(4) The holder of a
licence authorising the generation of electricity at Torrens Island must, as
required by proclamation, make payments to the Treasurer for the credit of the
Consolidated Account of amounts determined in accordance with the provisions
of the proclamation (being provisions framed having regard to rates imposed
under the Local Government Act 1934 in the adjoining council areas).
(5) A proclamation
made for the purposes of this clause may not be revoked and may be varied only
by regulation and if the variation reduces the future liabilities of the body
to which the proclamation relates.
4—ETSA's inscribed debenture stock
(1) Debentures or
inscribed debenture stock referred to in clause 6 of Schedule 2 of the
Electricity Corporations Act 1994 will be taken to have been issued by a
person or body specified by proclamation for the purposes of this clause.
(2) The specified
person or body must be the Treasurer or a person or body whose liabilities are
guaranteed by the Treasurer.
(3) The specified
person or body—
(a) may,
on the application of the owner of any such debentures, convert them into
inscribed debenture stock; and
(b) must
keep a register of inscribed debenture stock (the Register ).
(4) Inscribed
debenture stock will be taken to have been issued, and debentures will be
taken to have been converted into inscribed debenture stock, when the name of
the owner, and the amount and description of the stock, and any other
particulars determined by the specified person or body, are entered in the
Register.
(5) A person whose
name is inscribed in the Register as the owner of inscribed debenture stock
will be taken to be the owner of that stock and may dispose of and transfer it
in the manner prescribed by this clause and may give effectual receipts for
any money paid by way of consideration for the stock.
(6) The specified
person or body may, if it thinks reasonable cause exists for doing so, issue
to any person a certificate stating that any person was (on a day and at an
hour mentioned in the certificate) inscribed in the Register as the owner of a
specified amount of inscribed debenture stock.
(7) A certificate
issued under subclause (6) will, in the absence of evidence to the
contrary, be taken to be evidence of the fact stated in it.
(8) The legal
ownership of inscribed debenture stock is not transferred from the owner whose
name is inscribed in the Register to any other person until—
(a) that
owner and the transferee have executed a transfer in a form fixed by the
specified person or body, and the name of the transferee and the amount of the
stock have been entered in the Register; or
(b) a
person to whom the title to the stock has passed on death or bankruptcy or
otherwise by operation of law has produced to the specified person or body
such reasonable evidence of title as the specified person or body requires,
and that person's name has been entered in the Register as the owner of the
stock.
(9) No notice of any
trust, express, implied or constructive, affecting inscribed debenture stock,
may be received by the specified person or body or entered in the Register or
any other book kept by the specified person or body.
(10) Subject to the
provisions of this clause relating to the transfer and transmission of
inscribed debenture stock and notice of trusts, equitable interests may be
enforced against the owners of inscribed debenture stock.
5—Agreement between Minister and licensee about environmental compliance
(1) Subject to this
clause, an agreement may be made between the Minister and the holder of a
specially issued licence requiring the licensee to undertake programs directed
towards reducing the adverse effects on the environment of the operations
authorised by the licence and containing provisions dealing with and limiting
the licensee's environmental protection obligations in relation to those
operations.
(2) The Minister may
not make an agreement with a licensee under this clause—
(a) if
the licence was issued or transferred to the purchaser under a sale/lease
agreement—more than one month after the issue or transfer of the licence
to the purchaser; or
(b) if
paragraph (a) does not apply and the licence was issued to a
State-owned company—more than one month after the company ceases to be a
State-owned company.
(3) It is a
precondition to the making of an agreement under this clause that the
Environment Protection Authority approves the terms of the agreement.
(4) An agreement under
this clause has effect as a contract for the period specified in the agreement
and is binding on, and operates for the benefit of, the licensee who entered
into the agreement, successive holders of the licence and a person who holds
some subsequently granted licence under the Electricity Act 1996
authorising operations to which the agreement relates.
(5) The
Environment Protection Act 1993 and any statutory instruments under that
Act are to be construed subject to an agreement under this clause and, to the
extent of any inconsistency between that Act or statutory instrument and the
agreement, the agreement prevails.
(6) Any adverse
effects on the environment specifically permitted by an agreement under this
clause are to be taken—
(a) not
to constitute a contravention of the Environment Protection Act 1993 or
any statutory instrument under that Act; and
(b) not
to give rise to any liability under any Act or at law.
(7) An agreement under
this clause may be varied by further agreement between the Environment
Protection Authority and the licensee for the time being bound by the
agreement.
(8) An agreement or
variation of an agreement under this clause must be published in the Gazette.
(9) In this
clause—
Minister means the Minister to whom the administration of the
Environment Protection Act 1993 is committed.
(1) The Governor may
make proclamations for the purposes of this Schedule.
(2) Except as
otherwise provided in this Schedule, the Governor may, by subsequent
proclamation, vary or revoke a proclamation made for the purposes of this
Schedule.