More than nine kilometres of bare overhead power lines at Montrose and Kilsyth, near Mount Dandenong are to be replaced with underground or insulated cable.
The Melbourne fringe project is one of six high-voltage power line replacement projects this financial year.
Four of the projects will be in the bushfire-prone Otways.
Energy minister Nick Kotsiras called the process “a crucial part of our $750 million program to make Victorians safer from bushfires started by power lines”.
The power line replacement works are in response to recommendations from the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission, which called for power lines to be made safer.