Trees Near Power Lines: Who Trims What

There is a big oak limb over the wire in the back yard, and nobody is sure whose problem it is. The homeowner thinks the utility should handle it. The utility trimmed the street side last year and did not touch it. Meanwhile it grows.

The split is actually fairly clear once you know which wire you are looking at, and it matters because the answer determines who can legally and safely work near it.

The three kinds of wires on a residential lot

Primary distribution lines run along the street or the rear easement on the taller poles. They carry high voltage. The utility owns them, the utility trims around them, and nobody else may work within a defined distance of them without specific line-clearance qualification.

Secondary lines run from the transformer on the pole toward houses at lower voltage. Still the utility's, still trimmed by the utility's contractors, still not something a general tree crew touches.

The service drop is the wire from the pole to the weatherhead on your house. It is insulated, it carries the lowest voltage on the lot, and in most cases it is the homeowner's responsibility to keep trees clear of it. Insulated does not mean safe to touch; the insulation is weathered and it is not rated for contact. But a qualified tree crew can work around a service drop with appropriate precautions, and that is where most of the residential clearance work in Volusia County happens.

What the utility does

Utility vegetation management runs on a cycle. Crews come through an area every few years and trim to a clearance standard around the primary and secondary lines, and they do it for reliability, not aesthetics. That is why utility pruning looks the way it does: V-cuts through crowns, one-sided trees, limbs cut back hard on the line side. It is not the way an arborist would prune a tree for its health, and the utility contractors are not trying to. They are keeping the lights on.

Between cycles, if a tree is contacting or about to contact a primary line, you call the utility and report it. They will send a crew, usually promptly, because contact causes outages and fires. If you are unhappy with how they pruned, that is a conversation with the utility, not with a private tree service.

You can ask the utility whether they will remove a tree that is repeatedly conflicting with their lines. Sometimes they will, at their cost, because it is cheaper than trimming it every cycle. Sometimes they will not. It does not hurt to ask.

What you handle

Everything that is not the primary or secondary line:

• Trees near the service drop
• Trees that are on the street side but do not reach the lines
• The rest of the tree after the utility has cut the line side
• Any tree the utility declined to remove

For the service drop, an experienced crew keeps clear of the wire, positions rigging away from it, and where the drop is genuinely in the way, arranges with the utility to drop the service temporarily. That last option is real; the utility will disconnect and reconnect a service drop for a removal, typically for a fee and with scheduling.

What a private crew will not do

Work within the minimum approach distance of an energized primary or secondary line. That distance depends on voltage and it is a matter of federal safety regulation, not company policy. A crew that offers to cut a limb off a primary line for you is either unqualified or lying about being qualified, and either way you do not want them on your property.

This is also why the first question on any tree removal estimate near the street is where the lines are. It changes the whole plan.

The tree the utility mangled

The most common follow-up call we get: the utility crew cut one side of an oak back to the trunk and now it is lopsided and ugly, and the owner wants it "balanced."

Sometimes that is possible: a careful reduction on the heavy side to even out the load. Sometimes the utility side was cut so hard that the tree is structurally compromised and the honest answer is removal and replanting with something that will not reach the lines. What we will not do is prune the other side just as hard to match, which leaves you with a topped tree. See Why Topping Is the Worst Thing for why.

Planting under lines

The permanent fix is to stop planting large trees under wires. Under a primary line, plant things that top out well below it: crepe myrtle, yaupon holly, small palms, dahoon holly. Save the oaks for the parts of the lot with clear sky. Our post on choosing a tree for a small yard lists options.

Frequently asked questions

A limb is resting on the wire to my house. Is that an emergency?

If the wire is intact and the limb is resting, not sparking or sagging the line, it is urgent but not an emergency. Call the utility to check the drop and a tree service to remove the limb. If there is arcing, smoke, a downed wire, or the line is pulled loose from the house, stay away and call the utility and 911. See A Tree or Limb Is on a Power Line.

Will the utility remove my whole tree?

Sometimes, if it is a repeat conflict with their primary lines. Ask them directly. If they decline, it becomes your removal.

Can you prune the utility side better than they did?

We can prune what is on your side of the clearance zone and we can address the tree's balance and structure. We cannot work within the approach distance of the energized lines.

Who pays if my tree takes down the line?

Generally the utility repairs its own lines. Damage to your house from the tree, and any liability to neighbors, runs through your own insurance. We covered this in Who Pays When a Tree Falls?.

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ArboristRX handles tree work near service drops and away from energized lines across Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach, Port Orange, Oak Hill and Volusia County. Call (386) 444-5959.