Statement on Drone Inspections

Using Drones for Safety Inspections

At Endeavour Energy, we are committed to maintaining the highest safety and reliability standards for our electricity network. As part of our efforts, we use drones to conduct inspections and maintenance of our assets. We understand that this can raise privacy concerns, and we want to assure our customers that we take these matters seriously.

Why We Use Drones

Drones provide an efficient and effective way to inspect our electricity infrastructure, allowing us to identify and address potential issues quickly and accurately.

Compared to traditional methods such as helicopter inspections, drones offer several advantages:

• Increased Privacy: Drones are less intrusive and more precise, focusing solely on our infrastructure. This minimises the risk of capturing unnecessary images of private properties, thereby enhancing privacy.

• Improved Safety: Drones reduce the need for our personnel to perform risky manual inspections, especially in hard-to-reach areas.

This technology helps us ensure the continued safe and reliable delivery of electricity to our communities.

Our Legal Rights

Under the Electricity Supply Act 1995 No 94 (NSW), network operators like us are authorised to enter land for the purpose of inspecting, testing, and maintaining electricity works.

Respecting Your Privacy

While we have the right to conduct these inspections, we are committed to respecting your privacy. We abide by the Australian Government’s "Drone Privacy Guidelines" principles:

• Advance Notification: We notify account holders via SMS (where a valid mobile number is available to us) a week before the scheduled drone inspections, indicating that these inspections will occur within the following two weeks. This helps to ensure transparency and gives residents ample notice of our activities.

• Operational Focus: Our drones are used strictly for operational purposes, focusing solely on our infrastructure. This ensures that the primary goal of drone use is to inspect, and maintain our electricity network, thereby minimising any incidental capture of private areas.

• Image Minimisation: We make every effort to avoid capturing images of private areas unrelated to our inspection tasks. This is achieved by careful planning of drone flight paths and using technology to focus cameras only on the infrastructure of interest.

• Data Security: Any data collected during drone inspections is securely stored and used solely for maintenance and operational purposes. We share data exclusively with parties contracted to provide services to us, ensuring they are bound by confidentiality obligations.

• Compliance with Regulations: Our drone operations adhere to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) regulations, ensuring the safe and respectful use of drones in Australia. This includes maintaining flight logs, ensuring that drone pilots are certified, and operating drones within the parameters set by CASA to ensure safety and privacy.

Photos from Our Inspections

To give you a better understanding of our work, here are some photos taken by our drones during inspections. These images highlight our focus on infrastructure and demonstrate the precision and effectiveness of our drone operations.