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2005
joewho
Premium Member
join:2004-08-20
Dundee, IL

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joewho

Premium Member

[Electrical] Trees and drops

We have a large black walnut, its entangled in the com-ed line. I do not have the means or money to go up there. Today, some Ice formed and our power went out interittenly. This whole week, Davey Tree service had been going around the entire neighborhood cutting back trees. Just not ours. Ours is just across the sidewalk from the tree bank.Our property. We received a card in the mail saying that they would be trimming, but they did everyone elses but ours. Presumably, because ours in on private property. In this area, I have the right to trim a neighbors tree if it encroaches on our property. Our tree is encroaching on their power lines and it's causing outages. I've spoken to davey, and they said they would trim it, turns out Com-ED Doesn't want to do it. There's more to the story, as I've made a phone call or two.
Anyone have insight on this? To me If I have a legal right to trim a neighbors tree, they should have the right too, and I want them too. Watched them trim everyone elses, but skipped mine. Direction on this matter would be appeciated. Long post, but CS said the power would have to be completely out. Then they said they would cut power for a day so I could do it. It's a very large tree, I neither have the skill, money or lift to do that, not to mention that cable and phone are also effectd. Any real insight appreciated.

Pher9999
join:2011-07-06
Saucier, MS

Pher9999

Member

If it's in the power line right of way, they can level the tree. They don't need permission to trim them back. Tho they will ask. Around here it's hit or miss. They cut our tree down that was not quit to the primary and secondaries, But the neighbor's tree they left that is leaning on the drops over the road. You may need to flag one of hte guys down and ask them to trim it or even look.

nunya
LXI 483
MVM
join:2000-12-23
O Fallon, MO
·Charter

1 recommendation

nunya to joewho

MVM

to joewho
Generally, they only cut trees on easement and do not cut trees on private property. You are supposed to keep the trees off the drop crossing your private property to your house. I think you are S.O.L. You'll need to pay a tree company to do it.

Giving them permission isn't the issue. I'm giving Bill Gates my permission to send me $1,000,000 - I'll bet he doesn't do it.
Hellrazor
Bah Humbug
join:2002-02-02
Abyss, PA

Hellrazor to joewho

Member

to joewho
It depends on the electric company. Around here they only trim mains. You are SOL on something causing issues with your feeder.

At the cabin, which is served by a rural electric coop, they will trim something upon your request. But only when a crew is in the area. I had them drop dead trees for me that could hit our feeder. I tagged it with orange marker tape and about 3 weeks later it was down. They drop the tree and I cut it up for firewood.

The small coops work with you. Half customer service and half saving them hassles later.

ArgMeMatey
join:2001-08-09
Milwaukee, WI

ArgMeMatey to joewho

Member

to joewho
As I understand it, here, there is no formal utility easement, but existing lines are grandfathered by statute or administrative code. So all the trees are on private property.

We Energies is pretty clear about their policy: They will only trim private trees to protect their primary conductor(s). All other trimming is the owner's responsibility.

They send a letter saying more or less that they will trim as they see fit, and they mark the trees to be removed. If I call them and tell them not to trim trees on my property, they will not trim. However if I don't call, they're coming in and doing whatever they want roughly a week after the trees are marked, and at least a couple of weeks after I received the letter.

Bottom line: They will not trim around a secondary, cable TV, or phone.

Jack in VA
Premium Member
join:2014-07-07
North, VA

Jack in VA to joewho

Premium Member

to joewho
I have a pole on the front corner of my lot and the lot next door that the drop to his house runs from the transformer pole to that pole to the eve of his house. My overgrown trees just inside my property line were entangled in his drop trying to pull it loose when the wind blew. POCO had their tree trimmer contractor cut the limbs away from his drop. All on private property as it should be. We have no responsibility until the service gets to the meter pan. Overhead or underground.

I even talked them into cutting two limbs not associated with the line and grinding them up

The trimmers have been doing extensive cutting in my county and it's paying off. When surrounding areas in the past few weeks have been having large outages we only are having 4 or 5. Outstanding.
joewho
Premium Member
join:2004-08-20
Dundee, IL

joewho

Premium Member

Com Ed man was just here. Said it' s secondary and that they are not the one's doing the trimming anyway. Said it's the village. Told me they use aspludh anway. Checked everything out said our service is fine, solid 240 all the way to the house. I guess I need to call the village. feeling a little left out here, as most of the neighborhood has been trimmed, even the houses on the other side of the street that don't even have power poles. OH well, I guess I just don't understand and may be out of luck. 800 pounds of wall nuts last year. Maybe the village won't do ours because they are tangles in the lines.

tp0d
yabbazooie
Premium Member
join:2001-02-13
Bulger, PA

tp0d to joewho

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to joewho
You need to catch the Davey guys before theyre gone and talk to em with a 100$ bill and a 6 pack in hand

otherwise, yer foked.

good luck

-j

Jack in VA
Premium Member
join:2014-07-07
North, VA

Jack in VA

Premium Member

Asplundh is who does our trimming.

tschmidt
MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Consolidated Com..
·Republic Wireless
·Hollis Hosting

tschmidt to joewho

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to joewho
said by joewho:

Said it' s secondary and that they are not the one's doing the trimming anyway. Said it's the village.

Interesting topic, I'm late to the party, sounds like you have a handle on the situation.

In NH the utility owns responsibility all the way to the meter pan, same as Jack in VA See Profile. Due to several widespread outages over the years from ice storms the state passed legislation allowing the utility to be more aggressive trimming trees near rights-of way.

Works well for me, we have a 600 foot driveway, trimming trees reduces the chance of an outage and provides free firewood to boot.

»www.gencourt.state.nh.us ··· -172.htm
»www.unionleader.com/arti ··· obileart

/tom

Jack in VA
Premium Member
join:2014-07-07
North, VA

Jack in VA

Premium Member

said by tschmidt:

said by joewho:

Said it' s secondary and that they are not the one's doing the trimming anyway. Said it's the village.

Interesting topic, I'm late to the party, sounds like you have a handle on the situation.

In NH the utility owns responsibility all the way to the meter pan, same as Jack in VA See Profile. Due to several widespread outages over the years from ice storms the state passed legislation allowing the utility to be more aggressive trimming trees near rights-of way.

Works well for me, we have a 600 foot driveway, trimming trees reduces the chance of an outage and provides free firewood to boot.

»www.gencourt.state.nh.us ··· -172.htm
»www.unionleader.com/arti ··· 2/NEWS02
/712029971&template=mobileart/

tom

Yes that seems to be the most rational solution. We had a big ice storm here in 1998 on Christmas Eve. You wouldn't believe the outages because trees took down the lines. From then on they're been pretty aggressive in their trimming. Some of it doesn't look too good but it's very effective.

*December 23, 1998, "The Christmas Ice Storm": A major ice storm struck central and southeast Virginia beginning on Wednesday, December 23 and lasting into Friday, December 25, Christmas Day. Icy conditions caused injuries from slips and falls and numerous vehicle accidents. Ice accumulations of up to an inch brought down trees and power lines. Outages were so widespread (400,000 customers on Christmas Eve) that some people were without power for up to ten days.

7 days for us
joewho
Premium Member
join:2004-08-20
Dundee, IL

joewho

Premium Member

Our tree is on our property, very close to the sidewalk. Poles are on the treebank, i guess that's an easment. When my neighbors trees grow over our garage, I cut them, with permission of course. So my thinking is that they have the same right. Electicity did go out here 4 times today. Pretty sure I'm sol, unless I can catch a Davey guy with some cash. Problem I see that the limbs are so close to power and it's would take a lot of cuts to avoid a saftey issue. And really, if I can someone to cut down some of the walnuts, I may only have to pick up 300 lbs. this year. I'll pursue it, there might be a way.
phonesimon
join:2014-10-08
Pennsylvania

phonesimon to joewho

Member

to joewho
I never saw trees butchered like Asplundh did on our street. Our electric company must have driven a hard bargain for their services.

tschmidt
MVM
join:2000-11-12
Milford, NH
·Consolidated Com..
·Republic Wireless
·Hollis Hosting

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tschmidt

MVM

said by phonesimon:

I never saw trees butchered like Asplundh

In another thread a long time ago about the topic of utility tree trimming I commented that for arborists Asplundh seems to really mangle trees.

A poster corrected me and said that Asplundh is not an arborist, they are tree janitors. I'm always reminded of that jab when I see them working on utility lines.

/tom
rody_44
Premium Member
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA

1 edit

1 recommendation

rody_44 to joewho

Premium Member

to joewho
I got a letter they were doing our neighborhood. They were stopping one house from me. I noticed they were putting white x's on the trees. I got some marking paint and put a white x on my tree i wanted removed. Dam if they didnt come and remove the tree. Good thing to as the neighbor said they brought a crane in and it took them 4 hours to do. It was about 100 year old oak that measured 4 foot in diameter at the base. Cant beet that. Dam stump is still there tho. Aspluhnd did mine and i will snap a picture in the light and show whats left of it. Funny thing is utility lines are on other side of the street

Anonymous_
Anonymous
Premium Member
join:2004-06-21
127.0.0.1

1 recommendation

Anonymous_ to joewho

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to joewho
why not skip the middle man and complain directly to PUC
dmagerl
Premium Member
join:2007-08-06
Woodstock, IL

dmagerl to joewho

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to joewho
Com Ed refuses to touch my trees too. I've talked to the pruners when they're out and they refuse to clear my line, only the main.

The funny thing is, if a tree falls on my line, they're more than happy to send a crew out to repair it. You'd think a little preventive pruning would save them money.

My line is a couple hundred feet long from the house to the main. I've talked to the Com Ed guys that come out and repair the line and they claim that Com Ed is only responsible for the first 50 feet of line. All the rest is my responsibility. But they do the repair anyway for good public relations.

BTW, around here its commonly assumed you contact Davey if you want a tree to grow and you contact Asplunth if you want a tree to die.

techguyga
Premium Member
join:2003-12-31
00000
ARRIS BGW210-700

techguyga to phonesimon

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to phonesimon
Our old EMC used these things to clear right of way...except they were a little bigger. Talk about mangled trees...

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· LrI&t=40

cableties
Premium Member
join:2005-01-27

cableties to tschmidt

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to tschmidt
said by tschmidt:

Asplundh is not an arborist, they are tree janitors.

How true! I've seen trees left as one-limb wonders. And curious on this post as I have a home under-contract and wonder about a VERY tall oak just on the property that is extremely close to the high tension lines (not the lower power, and even lower communications lines). These are the three mains that I believe feed to a quarry a few miles down the road.
rody_44
Premium Member
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA

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Click for full size
Here is whats left of mine. I have no clue who actually payed to remove it as i just put a white x on it when they were coming thru. This was a really big oak and dieing. I wasnt home when they did it but the neighbor was and the neighbor said they said they would remove anything a homeowner wanted removed when making there rounds. (he wanted one removed but didnt have it done) But the homeowner would have to pay remove anything a certain amount away from the utility lines. Neighbor told me they had to bring a crane in and it took them 4 hours to remove this one. To this day i wonder if they figured out it was me that put the white x on the tree. Every once in a while i take my chainsaw out and hammer at the stump. Trying to get it low enough for a stump grinder to finish it. Not sure how it worked putting a white x on it but it did.

I have vision of them starting on my end of the street and a foreman sending a crew out and saying start here with the trees marked with xs. Supervisor probably showed up to late and said WTF cant imagine anyone removing a dead tree that big. Bring a crane in and spend half a day for something they were not even getting paid for. But they did. This tree measures over 4 foot across the base. Not around it but across it. Good 100 to 150 feet high it was. Funny thing is the utility lines are on the other side of the street.

pende_tim
Premium Member
join:2004-01-04
Selbyville, DE

pende_tim

Premium Member

Well if it was 100' tall and dead, the wind blowing in the right direction could have put it over the lines.
rody_44
Premium Member
join:2004-02-20
Quakertown, PA

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rody_44

Premium Member

I didnt actually know it was dieing until after it was cut down. Thats when i noticed i could drop a basketball down the center of it. I mainly wanted it gone because a pickup hit it and the driver died. Takes a hell of a chainsaw to take that big of tree down. You can probably see all my cuts just trying to knock the stump down. they left about a 5 foot stump. Im getting there little at a time.

mityfowl
Premium Member
join:2000-11-06
Dallas, TX

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The N. Texas way: »cityhallblog.dallasnews. ··· es.html/
dmagerl
Premium Member
join:2007-08-06
Woodstock, IL

dmagerl to joewho

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to joewho
In Illinois 2 years ago, a bill was introduced in the legislature to allow utilities to clear cut 25 ft on either side of a power line instead of just pruning trees. Thankfully, the outcry was so great the bill didnt go anywhere, but it did give the representative who introduced it the nickname Chainsaw Jack.

Jack in VA
Premium Member
join:2014-07-07
North, VA

Jack in VA

Premium Member

Yes and I bet that bunch will be the first and most vocal when the trees they didn't want cut takes their power out. Karma is hell.

psiuuuu
@sbcglobal.net

psiuuuu

Anon

said by Jack in VA:

Yes and I bet that bunch will be the first and most vocal when the trees they didn't want cut takes their power out. Karma is hell.

Here in SE MI, DTE has stepped up their trimming efforts after bad storms, yada yada yada. They have pretty free reign depending on the lines involved (main transmission lines? forget about it, throw some grass seed down).

They recently had some big tussles, part of it due to the semi-state ordered/approved increase in clearing, the other part due to hiring yahoos like Davey or Asplundh. Not just the march into some of the wealthiest subdivisions and clear cut away, but take shortcuts through private property and possibly clear cut their way through them as well.

This has gone over well. Seen reports elsewhere of people sleeping in trees (not this winter though, heh) etc. Sheesh, we have trees we want gone, hard to trick them into the middle of our yard though.

Outsourcing the tree trimming to contractors who go bottom barrel is definitely a route to success and happiness for all involved though!

chip89
Premium Member
join:2012-07-05
Columbia Station, OH

chip89 to joewho

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Around here First Energy will do if if you pay for it. »www.firstenergycorp.com/ ··· ces.html
chip89

chip89 to rody_44

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to rody_44
These people can spot dieing trees before most people can they probably spotted it and fought it was a safety hazard.
OldCableGuy (banned)
join:2014-12-19

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That thing looks gentle compared to a boom mounted flail. Talk about mangled right of way.

»youtu.be/_ecYaBkdlwc?t=15s
joewho
Premium Member
join:2004-08-20
Dundee, IL

joewho

Premium Member

Click for full size
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Pics showing how close the tree is to the sidewalk. Height and proximity to lines. At this point I would have to contact comed to shut us down just to get a private company to trim it. We don't have that kind of money. Not looking to cut the whole thing down, but it sure could use some trimming up top and around the lines. Recently saw some work being done on a chimney with the scaffolding close to the power line. The line had some sort of wrap around it it, presumably to protect anyone touching it.
Davey is done around here, far as I can tell. So I bought a couple of lottery tickets? lol.