West Penn Power Co. plans to spend about $47 million to trim trees that could impact power lines and other measures to control vegetation in Allegheny, Armstrong, Fayette, Westmoreland and 14 other counties in the state.
“We trim and remove trees to help minimize power outages, particularly during severe weather,” said Todd Meyers, a spokesman for Greensburg-based West Penn Power. Clean rights of way also help the utility gain access to repair storm-damaged equipment, such as what occurred last week, Meyers said.
Tuesday night’s severe weather disrupted power to about 40,000 West Penn customers across the region.
Contractors have trimmed trees along 1,000 miles of electric lines in West Penn’s service territory, including Allegheny, Armstrong and Westmoreland counties. Efforts remain on track to complete another 3,900 miles of work by the end of 2022, the company said. West Penn said it notifies the municipalities when it is in those communities.
“The work is making a difference. On days without severe weather, tree-related outages disrupted electric service to 17% fewer West Penn customers in 2021 than in 2020,” said Scott Wyman, president of FirstEnergy’s operations in Pennsylvania, which includes West Penn Power.
Spending on the vegetation management — which includes removing trees, applying herbicide and using aerial saws along transmission and distribution lines — has been ongoing in the past few years, with West Penn Power allocating $43 million in 2019, $46 million in 2020 and $5 million last year, Meyers said.
Any trees that present a danger or are diseased also may be cut down, the company said. The trees typically are trimmed so the branches do not get within about 15 feet of the wires, Meyers said.
The tree contractors — including Asplundh Tree Expert Co. of Willow Grove; Jaflo Inc. of Allentown; Lewis Tree Service Inc. of Santa Cruz, Calif.; Penn Service Tree Line Inc. of Scottdale; Davey Tree Expert Co. of Kent, Ohio; and Townsend Tree of Muncie, Ind. — use a trimming technique known as “directional pruning,” which keeps the tree healthy while training branches away from power lines, Meyers said.
The company typically trim trees on a five-year cycle, or in some cases, once every four years, he added.
