RIGHT-OF-WAY CLEARING

Outages are always inconvenient. On average Oconto Electric members experienced less than three outage-hours per member during 2005. Even though outage-hours are relatively low, OEC always strives to keep reducing those numbers. Some outages are out of our control - things like major storms, car accidents and vandalism.

One thing Oconto Electric tries to control is trees in the wires otherwise known as right-of-way clearing. Every year the Operations Department spends approximately $200,000 on right-of-way clearing. T & S Contracting out of Rapid River, Michigan, is the company OEC has been using for the past several years. During 2005 T & S cleared rights-of-way north of Highway 64, east of Highway 141, all of Wescott and Washington Townships and the Berry Lake area. They also clear rights-of-way for large projects and new lines that OEC builds during the year.

When clearing an existing right-of-way the crews cut trees and branches that are within 25 feet of an overhead line. If trees are in a member's yard, they will cut within 15 feet of the overhead line. Attempts are made to notify property owners when right-of-way clearing will be done on their property.

Areas in which right-of-way clearing will be done in 2006 include the Townships of Brazeau, How, Maple Valley, Spruce and Lena.

LOOK UP WHEN PLANTING TREES

As an OEC member, if you plant trees or do any landscaping in your yard, here's some things to keep in mind. Trees and shrubs can be a problem for overhead and underground facilities. You need to consider both when deciding where to plant or how to landscape your yard.

When deciding where to plant trees or shrubs, look up first. If there are overhead power lines in the area, you may want to reconsider where you are going to plant. You definitely don't ever want to plant anything directly under power lines. Even if it seems like you are planting that little sapling far enough away, how big will that tree get in 10-15 years, or when it's full grown?

Look at the guide below to see how far away from an overhead power line you should plant trees or shrubs.

If someone has a padmount transformer (a transformer that sits on the ground and is used for underground cable) the first thing they want to do when landscaping is to hide it with shrubs and plants. If there is a power outage, crews must have access to that transformer. Any landscaping close to that transformer will be damaged and may cause the outage to take longer to restore.

Trees planted to close to underground cable can eventually damage the cable when tree roots grow into the cable. If a cable is nicked while digging, eventually it will fail in that spot, again causing a power outage.

Always call Diggers Hotline before doing any digging or landscaping in your yard. After all underground facilities are marked, then carefully plan where you want to plant trees, shrubs and flowers. If you have any questions about where you should or should not do any planting, call OEC. We will be happy to help you.