Tree Trimming Operations In Full Gear As Winter Arrives In Green Country

Public Service Company of Oklahoma's trimming operation is taking on more importance this time of year, when ice storms could hit and threaten to drop limbs onto power lines and cut off your electricity.

The last few ice storms have focused attention on the importance of eliminating threats to the power grid. It's taken years, but PSO says it completed a plan of prevention that's already shown results.

PSO's tree trimmers are busy this time of year, but really they've been busy for the last 6 years, since the power company prioritized tree trimming to decrease outages.

Public Service of Oklahoma says the plan is working to cut the number of outages and make it easier to repair lines when they're down.

"So we've built up over time the resistance we need to stand up to some bad weather," said Andrea Chancellor of PSO.

PSO started a more aggressive plan of trimming in 2005. They had not made it over the entire system before a series of ice storms in 2007 and 2008.

Ice magnifies problems with limbs, because it can bring down limbs that normally are not a problem. Before 2005, PSO mainly trimmed trees that were already touching lines.

But since PSO switched from reactive trimming to preventive trimming, outages are down 25 percent. And repairs happen faster - cutting the length of outages by 47 percent.

PSO's Urban Forester says tree limbs are no longer the main threat to power lines.

"It used to be the number one cause of power outages in Oklahoma, but it's well down the list now," said Richard Bewley of PSO.

Bewley says PSO is now into the second cycle of more aggressive tree trimming, clearing power lines circuit by circuit to make sure no trees are growing into the lines, and no limbs could possibly fall onto the lines.

"We'll be in every customer's yard at least every 4 years to make sure there are no trees interfering with the power lines," Bewley said.

With winter weather on the horizon, PSO says their lines are as safe as they can be from what used to be the main cause of outages.

The only way to protect lines more is to bury them, but a PSO plan to do more of that is on hold for now because of the economy.