Swepco Meeting
to discuss tree cutting along power line easements
This meeting was called so that
everyone would have a good opportunity to listen to Swepco’s plans for cutting
and trimming trees and maintaining their power line easements inside King’s
Country and for everyone to have a chance to ask their questions directly to
Swepco.
Approximately 60 Property Owners
attended the meeting.
Representing Swepco was:
Kenny Hawkins, Customer
Service Representative out of
Jennifer Meyer, Manager of
External Affairs
Craig Harland, Supervisor of
Distribution System
Craig: We are all aware that
the power in this area has not been as reliable during critical weather events
as we would like it to be. In fact at times we have come very near exceeding
the capacity of this area’s substation. A few times we were mere minutes away
from total shutdown at the substation.
So, what have we done to
remedy this situation?
We have upgraded the
transformers at the substation.
We have installed voltage
regulators to keep voltage at a constant level.
We have upgraded the breakers
at the substation for more capacity.
We are upgrading Circuit 8000
which is this area by installing another 3-phase line to feed the area. This is
the project you’ve seen on
We had to clear an expanded
right of way for the new 3-phase line.
The final project will be to
cut and trim the remaining power line easements in King’s Country.
The State of
We intend to start this
cutting in trimming in August or September and do all of King’s Country before
we leave. This will be a complete maintenance trim as we intend to establish a
5 year trim cycle. Lines that will be trimmed are our primary lines, which are
the 2-phase and 3-phase lines. Service lines, those running from transformers
to your meters will not be trimmed. Trees in the easement right of way will be
removed as it does not pay to trim the same tree every 5-6 years. Some will be
machine trimmed, but trees in yards will be trimmed or cut using climbers and
bucket trucks. We intend to mark trees in yards with red paint. We will leave a
door hanger on your door explaining what we plan to do and you will have two
weeks at least to respond. If you agree with the plan you just sign the door
hanger and leave it on your door or bring it to Dwayne at the King’s Country
office. If you don’t like the plan there is a phone number on the door hanger
to call. Call and a Swepco Rep will come out and discuss the issue with you and
try to reach a compromise if possible. We also plan to give Dwayne a loose
schedule of where we will be working so that he can keep everyone in that area
informed and give plenty of notice so that you will have time to respond if
needed.
Question—Will there be any
spraying done?
Answer----Yes, but only spot
applications mostly to stumps and vines so there will be no regrowth.
Q--What about dead trees
outside of the easement?
A-- Dead trees outside of the
easement will be taken down if they could possibly fall on the line.
Q-- Most of the power outages
you have talked about came about because of equipment problems not trees, so
why trim or cut our trees now?
A—You
are right, most of our outages that occur in critical weather situations were
caused by equipment failures. But, if you go back and pull every trouble ticket
in this area it will show that trees in the lines or trees falling in the lines
is the most costly problem money wise to Swepco. The trim we are planning will
help greatly with the tree calls and the animals in the wire calls.
Q—What
exactly is the easement?
A—There
is a 10 foot easement inside your property line where we may set equipment.
However, we can trim anything inside or outside of that right of way that could
possible affect the reliability of our transmission lines. This cut will be any
tree within 10 feet of the widest wire. Now, on 2-phase that
means 10 feet from the pole. On 3-phase you have
outriggers on the pole for the extra wires and the trim will be 10 feet from
that widest wire.
Q—Are
you planning on grinding the stumps in people’s yards? Some of us cannot afford
to pay ourselves to have them ground.
A—We
are not planning to grind stumps at this time. But, I will ask Swepco’s Corporative
if they might pay for some stump grinding. They probably won’t but it can’t
hurt to ask.
Q—What
type of trees can we plant to replace the ones we are losing?
A—Any tree that will only get
10 – 15 feet tall is probably going to be OK. We have a publication that lists
suitable trees and we will make sure that we get some of them to Dwayne at the
office to hand out.
Q—Is King’s Country the only
subdivision to be trimmed?
A—No, everything in this
circuit will be trimmed from the substation to the end of the line. In fact we
are in