Cutting down tree that's going through utility lines

[minhster]

I have a smaller tree (as in not wide but really tall) in the back of the garage. The tree goes through the utility lines. I mean they are touching them and weaved in between some of them. I can easily cut it down myself if it wasn't for the lines.

I called the electric company and was told that they are not power lines since it is the lower set of lines and only the upper set of lines are electrical (lower are communication lines)

I want to cut down the tree, is it my sole responsibility to hire someone or will the utility company (phone and cable i'm guessing in this case) come and do it for me?

 

[Ray-CA]

I would call the utility companies and ask. They might come out and cut the branches away from the cables/wires and then you can drop the tree.

Ray

 

[Stuart in MN]

If the tree is in fact not grown into the power lines, you're pretty safe in trimming around phone or cable tv lines.

Electric utilities are usually pretty good about trimming trees interfering with their stuff, but I've never had to deal with telephone or cable companies on this subject - I suspect they'll tell you it's your responsibility but it won't hurt anything to ask them.

In any case, they may trim the branches but I doubt they would cut the whole tree down.

 

[sirsloop]

I wouldn't screw with it man... no way in hell I would cut down a tree anywhere close to a power line. I'm not an expert faller and not an expert linesman... so this one is left for the pros.

 

[pop pop]

If they don't come take it down, drop it. If the communication wires come down, you warned them. They'll come out then.

 

[kbs2244]

The usual wire ownership from top to bottom is

Power company

Phone company.

Cable TV company.

I would call whoever your tree is interfering with.

It is to their benefit to be able to schedule it in advance rather than have to come and do an emergency repair because of some mistake on your part.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

My experience has been that the phone company will be completely uninterested in doing any tree trimming. Just look around you and you'll likely see trees growing into the phone lines everywhere.

You can call whomever you want, but I think you'll find you're on your own.

If the tree gets blown over into the lines and breaks them, they will come out and fix them and you will not be at fault. If you cut the tree and tear down their phone lines, even if you've advised them of the possibility, they will likely see the damage as your fault.

A good analogy would be a car.

If I park my car in a legal spot somewhere and you come up to me and tell me you are going to be backing out of the adjacent parking space and you aren't that great of a driver...I am not obligated to either move my car or take responsibility for any accident that occurs subsequently.

That's how I see it anyway. Best bet is to hire a pro. They'll know what to do.

Phil

p.s. This is a change in the last 15 years or so. Back in the day, both power companies and phone companies had crews trimming trees all the time. Best I can tell, power companies have cut back by about 75% and phone companies quit all together.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Makethe phonecall first. If they blow you off, cut down teh tree, if it pulls down the lines, somebody will be out to fix it on OT.

 

[TwoInch]

as a former line clearence trimmer, i would recommend not messing with a tree that is with a few feet of any lines on a utility pole. you will be at fault if any damage occurs, period. if the wind or a storm causes the tree to damage the lines, its not your fault.

we used to see this all the time. homeowners want the tree gone, phone or utility company takes their time to get the tree trimmed back, so homeowner pays oodles of cash to a private tree company to remove it. private tree guys show up, can not remove the tree because they are not allowed to touch it, because its within minimum seperation to the lines. they call power or utility company and advise them that they are on a job, and they can not proceed due to minimum separation rules, and the power company must send out a tree crew to at very least bring the tree to minimum separation, but usually takes the tree to a stump. then the homeowner must pay the private tree company full price for the removal, and the utility tree crew did all, or most of the work, while the private guys snickered.

private guys have this well figured out, and jump at jobs that are within minimum separation limits.

my advice? call the power, or utility company that the tree is intermingled with, and tell them you are in the process of removing trees, and one is on their lines so you cant proceed. they should send a crew over to get it away from the lines. call in the morning during the week, and usually they would have someone there same day, or within a few at the maximum.

you do not want to pay for the lines, the two or three linemans overtime when he gets called out to fix it, and sits around milking the clock in your driveway. you will be charged, and at fault. even simple jobs can turn not so simple when any utility is involved. fwiw

 

[TwoInch]

This is a change in the last 15 years or so. Back in the day, both power companies and phone companies had crews trimming trees all the time. Best I can tell, power companies have cut back by about 75% and phone companies quit all together.

around here, the power company hires out the trimming, and i believe they own the poles, the phone and other line companies rent usage of the poles i believe. tree companies trim in a four year cycle roughly, so that once they finish all the circuits, they can start over at the other end again. they only trim back so far, a few feet usually. this is why power outages are still prevalent in heavy storms. tree guys like overtime too

 

[geotek]

It's my understanding that if you were to damage the lines doing this, you'd be responsible for the repair costs which can be very expensive. If you see a line with orange on it it's probably a fiber optic line. If you see that, don't go near it! Repair costs for fiber are in the tens of thousands of dollars!

 

[dartsportsteve]

See if the Cable company will do it. I work for one and if we knew a customer was potentially going to drop a tree that had our lines in it we'd at least come out with the boom truck and trim to the point that it should come down clear of the cable.

If they won't come do it, then I'd suggest hiring an insured professional.

 

[AndyL]

I made arrangements just yesterday for my utilities to come out and disconnect my overheads - power cable and phone (mind you I had only to call power, they arranged the other two for me), so I can drop 5 trees safely. Unfortunately it's 20 years of utility pruning that's caused all the damage... They'll come disconnect me at noon, and two come back 4 hours later to reconnect (cables not getting reconnected - not used). Costs 0$ - costs if I were to have an accident not so cheap...

 

[Brad54]

I have a smaller tree (as in not wide but really tall) in the back of the garage. The tree goes through the utility lines. I mean they are touching them and weaved in between some of them. I can easily cut it down myself if it wasn't for the lines.

I called the electric company and was told that they are not power lines since it is the lower set of lines and only the upper set of lines are electrical (lower are communication lines)

I want to cut down the tree, is it my sole responsibility to hire someone or will the utility company (phone and cable i'm guessing in this case) come and do it for me?

I can't believe I've turned into my dad, but...
If it ain't broke, then don't fix it.

Call them, tell them their problem, and if they choose to take care of it, you're good.
If not, you did your part, the rest is up to Mother Nature.

-Brad

 

[TwoInch]

I made arrangements just yesterday for my utilities to come out and disconnect my overheads - power cable and phone (mind you I had only to call power, they arranged the other two for me), so I can drop 5 trees safely. Unfortunately it's 20 years of utility pruning that's caused all the damage... They'll come disconnect me at noon, and two come back 4 hours later to reconnect (cables not getting reconnected - not used). Costs 0$ - costs if I were to have an accident not so cheap...

are you talking about your service drops to your house? i cant imagine they would do anything with the phase lines, or the communication lines.

 

[TwoInch]

I can't believe I've turned into my dad, but...
If it ain't broke, then don't fix it.

Call them, tell them their problem, and if they choose to take care of it, you're good.
If not, you did your part, the rest is up to Mother Nature.

-Brad

im thinking he wants the tree out for reasons other than it touching the lines. he shouldnt have to leave a tree that he doesnt want, because the utilities wont send out a crew.

 

[slip knot]

Around here the utilities are more than happy to cut the trees out for you. Our local electric co-op has even suggested paying landowners who keep the power line ROWs cleared. They would much rather to fix a problem on regular time than to have an outage and have OT involved. Call the utility and find out what their policy is.

 

[olytdi]

I'll be dropping two big trees on Tuesday through which all of the power and cable lines travel. Around here, (Puget Sound Energy, Comcast cable), you call well in advance and tell them you need a line drop. They'll send someone out to verify and then you can schedule it.

In my case, the line is going down the street to the last pole on the street then to my neighbor's house. It's all tri-plex that goes through the trees as the high voltage terminated at the previoius pole (which sits in my yard). Usually, the power company won't drop tri-plex -- it's the owner's responsibility. But in this case the tri-plex continues down the street so if they don't drop the line, I can walk away from the problem (woudn't affect me if the tree fell and brought down the line). So they agreed to do the drop. Anyway, it was their tree work 15 years ago that killed the trees in question. I'm still pissed I have to clean-up after they topped the trees.

Comcast didn't bat an eye. They just asked what time did I need the drop.

Bottom line is that if it is primary (high voltage) line, the power company should either lower the tree to a safe level that can be handled without a line drop or, do a line drop. If it's tri-plex from the transformer to the house, you're on your own.

 

[AndyL]

are you talking about your service drops to your house? i cant imagine they would do anything with the phase lines, or the communication lines.

Service drops to my house.

I called power co, they handled the rest, got confirmation phone calls from the cable and phone people that they'd be out at noon, to clear the lines out of my way. Yes I could have had the power co drop part of the tree, but the yards a bit tight there, I'd rather do it myself so I know I don't have to fix fences, greenhouses, etc etc etc

 

[6772man]

I am a lineman here in Arkansas so I do have some experience with this. Most of our lines that are torn down is because somebody hooked phone cable more than anything. If you hook phone or cable it is possible to tear down a pole depending on its condition. With that being said I would not be scared to trim a tree or limb, I just ask you use caution and if any power lines just happen to get torn down run away.

 

[Lippyp]

Power company came and trimmed a large ash and an oak that were overhanging my lines recently. Didn't charge and they left me the wood for the fire. Onloy downside was they managed to drop one branch through my phone line so that meant three days with no phone or internet.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Only slightly off the topic.

Years ago, my Dad had a tree that got large enough to interfere with the power lines. Because he lived in a rural are, there was no preventive maintenance (tree trimming) done, so the inevitable happened. Power outage.

Power company fixed the problem and trimmed a few branches (not a regular trimming crew, just the repair guys).

A year later, same thing. About another year later, same thing. I don't know how long it went on but every 12-24 months you could be sure the lights would go out.

Finally, Dad calls the power company and say "You have my permission to cut that tree that has been causing you all of these problems down." "Sir, we don't cut trees down on private property." Back and forth.

Finally he says "I want to talk to a supervisor." Supervisor get on the phone and he says "You can cut the tree down or keep coming back and fixing the line !" Supervisor says, "Sir, we don't ..."

A couple days later, a power company truck shows up and cuts down the tree !

 

[slow50]

where i live the city goes around town every year and trims all the trees that are near power lines.

 

[theoldwizard1]

where i live the city goes around town every year and trims all the trees that are near power lines.

Why are your tax dollars being used to protect a private industry's property ?

 

[Larwyn]

Why are your tax dollars being used to protect a private industry's property ?

My guess would be that the city in question is the provider of electricity for it's residents. In that case it would more likely be revenues from the citizen's electric bills that pays for the tree trimming than any city taxes. Line maintenance, including tree trimming, is a significant expense for any energy provider. Buzzard poop and squirrels increase your electricity rates more than you will likely ever know!