In December last year, two women - Judith Ward, 59, and Lorraine Melia, 46 - died as they failed to outrun flames that were sweeping towards the small town of Tenterden, 350km south-east of Perth.

A report by energy watchdog Energy Safety concluded a fault on Western Power powerlines caused molten globules to ignite dry stubble which started the fire.

Western Power spokesman Peter Winner has said the utility accepted its powerlines started the fire.

"What there is a difference of opinion about with the energy safety report is - how it got to that stage - because this line was built according to the standards of the day and it still conforms with the standards of today," he told ABC Radio.

But a consultant hired by police to investigate the Tenterden fire told an inquest in Albany, Western Australia that he had found more than 20 dangerously faulty power poles in the area.

Guy Tomlinson of CCD Australia, an electrical fire and powerline expert, said he was able to push a finger into rotting poles, according to a report in The West Australian newspaper.

Between the site of the fire and Albany he also found many sagging and dangerously misaligned powerlines as well as loose pole stay wires.

Tomlinson told the inquest that the lines that started last December’s bushfire had clashed because they had been poorly installed and maintained and were sagging badly.

“Based on a cursory examination of Western Power lines in Tenterden and adjacent areas, we would question the adequacy of maintenance,” Tomlinson said.

“We are confident Western Power were aware of the issues of bushfires occurring as a result of clashing overhead transmission lines for some time prior to December 27.”

Meanwhile on the other side of the country, the infrastructure of troubled power corporation Energex is so run down it is causing bushfires and safety hazards across southeast Queensland, according to Electrical Trades Union state secretary Peter Simpson.

In recent months several bushfires have been sparked by power lines hitting the ground after the collapse of crossbars on Energex poles, Simpson told The Australian.

"Through white rot and weathering, these things are literally falling out of the sky," Simpson said.

"The network has not been properly maintained and now we're getting bushfires and accidents that are avoidable."

Energex's new chief executive Gordon Jardine admitted decaying crossbars were a major problem.

"We have stepped up a crossbar replacement program," Jardine told the newspaper.

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has denied the problems were caused by the Government extracting hundreds of millions of dollars of Energex profits in dividends.