Right of Way Clearing

RIGHT OF WAY CLEARING

Preventing problems before they occur.

At The Energy Cooperative, we continue to focus on improving reliability to our members. For our electric members, this means we are working hard to avoid power outages. Power outages can occur for several different reasons. Severe weather, traffic accidents, and even squirrels cause issues on our electric lines. The most common cause for power outages, however, are tree limbs meeting our electrical lines. Tree branches falling on power lines disrupts the reliability of your electric service, and creates an extremely dangerous situation for everyone nearby. We can’t prevent storms. We can, however, make sure the area closest to our power lines is free from tree limbs and debris. To accomplish this, our right of way team conducts aggressive tree trimming and clearing along our electric lines to help prevent problems before they occur.

Power outages are not only disruptive for you, they can also be disruptive to us. When the power goes out-- we go out. Having an aggressive right of way program saves our members several thousand dollars annually by reducing employee overtime cost for repairs; limiting outage call center costs; avoiding additional vehicle fuel and maintenance costs; and limiting electric line kWh losses that occur during outages.

Clearing the right of way involves cutting, mowing and spraying a minimum of 15 feet from all sides of a single phased electric line, and a minimum of 20 feet from a three phased electric line. We may also use selective herbicides to remove unwanted weeds, brush and trees from the right of way. If total vegetation control is needed to keep the lines clear, we use non-selective herbicides. Our team understands applying herbicides requires

Preventing problems before they occur.

precision and we utilize buffer zones to avoiding gardens, flowers and other plants that are important to you.

Our team implements a preventative maintenance schedule throughout all our right of ways. They also respond regularly to member calls regarding trees on the lines, or other dangerous situations. In addition to their regularly scheduled work, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) has caused them a significant amount of concern this year. Our entire system has been devastated by the EAB. There are thousands of dead ash trees along or near our right of way. We are working to remove the dead ash trees by focusing on targeted areas. This very large problem will continue to be a concern until all of the dead ash trees in our right of way are addressed and removed.

The Energy Cooperative's internal team works with an external vendor to keep our right of ways clear from ground to sky. While we work throughout our entire system, preventative maintenance trimming is currently underway in our Jacksontown and Hickman substation areas. You will receive an automated call if we are heading your direction, and we will leave information on your door.

Right of way maintenance is vitally important because it is the backbone of reliability for our electric members. Without a well-maintained right of way, our system can’t be reliable. Be assured that our team is working hard to prevent problems before they occur.