Tackling one of the leading causes of electric service interruptions, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based PECO will spend $34 million system-wide this year to trim trees and vegetation in and around its aerial distribution and transmission wires. Tree growth into overhead utility lines, fallen tree limbs and uprooted trees are the most common causes for service interruptions and tend to involve more cleanup and repair, resulting in longer service interruptions to customers.

Nearly 3000 miles of aerial electric lines will be trimmed this year as part of PECO’s regularly scheduled tree-trimming cycle. In addition to tree trimming, PECO uses a variety of methods to control vegetation growth in and around its facilities and lines, including mowing, herbicides, and removal of hazardous or incompatible trees. Trained professionals from Asplundh Tree Experts, who consider the overall health of the trees as they trim using as few cuts as possible, perform PECO’s trimming work.

PECO’s tree maintenance helps the company prevent service interruptions, reduce the length of the interruptions when they do occur, and improve service in areas that experience more outages than the regional average. PECO has found that areas that are the focus of tree clearance work experience 39 percent fewer outages due to vegetation in the year after scheduled work.

By county, PECO will spend:

• $4.3 million in Philadelphia for vegetation management to trim nearly 238 miles of aerial wire, primarily impacting customers in the South Philadelphia and Southwest Philadelphia areas.
• $10.6 million in Bucks County to trim nearly 1,100 miles of aerial wire, benefiting customers primarily in Bensalem, Bristol, Doylestown, Lower Makefield, Middletown, Morrisville, Newtown, Northampton, Warminster, Warrington and Yardley.
• $7.4 million in Chester County to trim roughly 676 miles of aerial wire, benefiting customers primarily in Franklin, Highland, Londonberry, London Grove, New London, North Coventry, Penn, West Fallowfield and West Sadsbury.
• $6.4 million in Delaware County to trim nearly 700 miles of aerial wire, benefiting customers primarily in Aston, Bethel, Chester, Nether Providence, Ridley Park, Springfield, Upper Chichester and Upper Darby.
• $4.9 million in Montgomery County to trim 264 miles of aerial wire, benefiting customers primarily in Lower Pottsgrove, Pottstown and Upper Pottsgrove.

“Our first priority is to give customers the service they deserve and expect,” said Denis O’Brien, PECO president. “These investments show how seriously we take our pledge to provide quality service to our customers and we’ve found through the years that this type of work provides very real benefits for the customer.”