Tree Trimming
Tree maintenance is essential to an electric distribution system’s reliability.
Each year we trim trees to ensure your safety and to maintain reliable electric service. Nearly one-third of power outages each year can be traced to tree interference. In severe storms, tree-related damage accounts for two-thirds of the power outages. If contact with the tree causes the power line to fall to the ground, there’s a potential for electric shock or even death. Also, climbing a tree that’s grown into a power line has led to many deaths and severe injuries.
Our goal is to keep the tree healthy and to ensure that future growth is directed away from the power lines. Usually we only remove those branches that pose a threat involving the power lines. Topping or rounding trees isn’t done because it threatens the health of the tree.
If it’s likely that strong wind, heavy snow or ice may cause the tree to contact the wires or pose any danger, we work to prevent that problem before it occurs. We must also consider the danger if someone were to climb that tree. Your trees may not be an immediate danger, but our customers count on us to anticipate and prevent foreseeable problems.
Maintaining the wires that run from the pole to a home is the property owner’s responsibility. Although the voltage running through the service drop is much lower than that of the pole-to-pole wires, special care must be taken to avoid electric shock. Thus, we recommend you hire a professional tree service to do this trimming. Upon request, we will de-energize these wires while trimming is done.
If you notice a broken tree limb or other immediate hazard on a pole-to-pole power line, call the Lowell Light and Power office at 897-8402. Our staff will determine if the tree can be left until its normal trim cycle or if immediate action is needed. Trees planted near a power line should have a mature height of less than 25 feet. If you’re planting a species that grows taller, it needs to be planted 20 to 50 feet away from the existing power line, depending on the type of tree. As your community owned electric utility, we think it’s important that our customer/owners understand why it’s important to keep the trees and power lines a safe distance away from each other.
Our line clearance program is a critical element in continuing to provide reliable energy at a low cost, which is evident in the fact that the American Public Power Association recently honored Lowell Light and Power with a Reliable Public Power Provider Award (RP3 Award). Lowell Light and Power was one of 82 of the nation’s more than 2,000 public power utilities to receive this prestigious award.
In order for the tree trimming process to begin, a waiver needs to be signed by the property owner to protect not only our staff, but our customers as well. To view and/or print this document, please click the icon below.
MISS DIG
Don’t be a statistic. Be smart and follow the law. Call 811 three business days before you dig. It’s a free service!
If you are digging, or working near overhead electrical wires, Michigan State Law Public Act 53 of 1974, requires that you call the MISS DIG System at 811 or (800) 482-7171 three (3) full working days before your work begins.
MISS DIG IS A FREE SERVICE! Lowell Light and Power is a participating utility member. MISS DIG notifies us where and when you will be working. We will mark our underground utility lines with paint and/or flags and ensure adequate clearance of overhead electric lines. This is necessary so that you do not damage them and/or harm yourself. MISS DIG does not mark utilities; individual utilities mark their own.
In 2007, a national three-digit number, 811, was introduced to connect people directly to their state’s one-call system. To learn more, please visit call811.com.
Lowell Light and Power locates underground utilities owned and maintained by Lowell Light and Power. These are located using red markers. Parents: Please talk to your children about the importance of these flags and the protection of the utilities and utility workers. These flags should not be pulled out until the excavation is complete.
Homeowners Locate Request Program
If you are planning to dig on your property, and would like to make an on-line request to have your underground utilities marked, please go to MISS DIG’s website.
Lowell Light and Power does NOT locate privately owned utilities beyond the points noted above.