Trees are recognized for their tremendous contribution to the environment. Unfortunately, trees growing in the wrong place have the potential to threaten the reliability of electric service and public safety. Most electric utilities recognize trees as the leading cause of unplanned service interruptions, including both sustained duration outages and momentary ones.
When growing in and around electric facilities, trees cause electrical faults and impede access to facilities when emergency or routine repairs are needed. In order to continue serving our membership with reliable electricity, a quality vegetation management program is essential.
We utilize both in-house and contract right-of-way crews to keep up with the demand for vegetation management. Each of these crews serves a specific purpose in helping keep the lights on in your neighborhood.
Vegetation Management Cycles
We define a vegetation management cycle as the amount of time allowed between trimming or herbicide activity on a section of line. We attempt to maintain an six-year trimming cycle throughout our service territory.
By maintaining the clearances needed to stay on these cycles, we can greatly reduce the amount of money we spend trimming what we call cycle busters, or hotspot trees, helping keep electricity rates affordable.
Vegetation Related Outages
When winter weather or severe thunderstorms move through the area, widespread outages can occur. Even with the best vegetation management program, it is impossible to eliminate all tree-related outages under adverse conditions.
Rights-of-way that are clear of undergrowth and overhanging limbs are more accessible and require less trimming to restore power. This can mean the difference of a minor storm event that takes hours to restore, or a major weather event that can mean days without power.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do you have to trim so much off of my tree?
Trees that have been trimmed will re-sprout and can grow one-to-eight feet annually, depending on the species. This type of trimming is cost prohibitive and nearly impossible to manage.
I have a tree on my property that is growing into a power line. How can I get it trimmed?
Contact CMEC at 217-235-0341 or toll free at 888-661-2632 and we will put an order in for the tree to be evaluated and potentially trimmed.
Where can I plant around a pad-mounted transformer?
A good rule of thumb is to plant at least 10 feet away from any pad-mount transformer or pedestal to provide safe access for CMEC lineman to perform routine maintenance and outage restoral repairs.
How far away from power lines & poles do trees need to be planted?
- Small Tree Zone: Trees less than 25′ tall/spread should be planted at least 25′ from any power lines.
- Medium Tree Zone: Trees 25′-40′ in height/spread should be planted at least 40′ from any power lines.
- Large Tree Zone: Plant trees larger than 40′ in height/spread at least 60′ from any power lines.
