Tree Trimming

Squirrels and trees are the biggest source of electrical outages, not just here but across the United States, so being proactive in preventative brush cutting and tree trimming is absolutely essential to keeping our system alive and limiting the number of/and duration of outages.

The reduction in duration of outages from 2,208 hours in 2014 down to 834 hours in 2016 tells the story of how critical stepped up right-of-way maintenance is. The consumer shall grant any necessary permission to enable the Cooperative to install and maintain its facilities on the premises of the consumer so as to serve the consumer and the utility system as a whole.

The Cooperative shall have the right through its employees, or other agents, to enter upon the premises of the consumer at all reasonable times for the purpose of reading, inspecting, maintaining, repairing, or removing the metering devices, wiring, or other facilities of the Cooperative, and also for the purpose of tree trimming, right-of-way clearing, and other vegetation management.

The Cooperative has a legal obligation concerning tree removal, tree trimming, and right-of-way maintenance on all existing primary and secondary electrical facilities to maintain such facilities in accordance with the National Electric Safety Code, the Rules and Regulations of the Oregon Public Utility Commission, and Rural Utilities Service requirements.

The Cooperative may, through its employees or other agents, enter the consumer’s property at reasonable times in order to undertake needed vegetation management work. The property owner agrees not to interfere with such activity. This means no locked gates without giving WOEC a current key or combination to the lock for access.

Service Rules & Regulations 20.3

What it means to be a co-op member, Ruralite January 2017, Page 4

OSHA does not allow for untrained personnel to be working within 10 feet of electrical power lines. This is no place for amateurs, and the professional tree cutting crews are unionized to maintain professional safety standards. It is not only safer for the properly trained and equipped workers, but reduces potential for damage to the system. It is not cost-effective for WOEC to maintain its own tree-cutting crews.

In 2017 burying electric lines cost 3 times as much as running them overhead from poles. It’s also more difficult and time consuming to isolate problems or breaks, and then to dig them up, repair them, and re-bury them especially in rugged terrain; typically, this takes place during an emergency and is paid out in overtime. For most of our grid, it makes more economic sense to keep the lines on poles, even though they are more vulnerable to trees falling and squirrels. Now when cables are undergrounded, they are run through conduit to help protect them from accidental damage and corrosion.