Vegetation management helps us provide safe and reliable power to the Valley. When trees grow too close to power lines, they can cause power outages and create safety risks. We work hard to keep this from happening.
SRP’s vegetation management program
Here at SRP, we prune and remove trees and other vegetation that pose a risk to our power system. Once a tree has encroached on an SRP power line, it becomes our responsibility to prune or remove the tree.
When a customer calls to let us know of a potential tree risk, our vegetation management team sends a Utility Forester Technician or Utility Forester to assess the situation, if work is required then an SRP contracted tree crew completes the tree pruning. From there, a Utility Forester will audit the tree trim to ensure power line clearance. Once a job is complete, it’s logged into our vegetation work management system.
“The goal for vegetation management in the urban environment is to reduce the number of trees that require annual pruning on the SRP transmission and distribution systems and pose a risk to customer safety,” said Matthew G., SRP Vegetation Management Manager. “In the rural environment, the goal is to reduce wildfire risk by clearing transmission and distribution corridors of incompatible high fire risk vegetation.”
Tree trimming misconceptions
One common misconception is that SRP is responsible for all tree and vegetation maintenance under power lines. SRP only prunes vegetation once it has grown within 10 feet of the pole-to-pole power lines. However, when a power line goes from the pole to the home rooftop, it becomes the homeowner’s responsibility. The best safety practice would be to prune your trees before they grow within 10 feet of the power line. If necessary, SRP can temporarily disconnect your power to prune safely around de-energized lines.
There are also misconceptions about why trees are pruned the way they are. While the trees may look different after pruning, our priority is to prune trees in a way that’s safe and healthy for the tree.
The amount of pruning depends on:
- Tree species
- How fast the tree grows
- Where the tree is in proximity to the power line
- How the tree is watered
Does SRP ever remove trees?
If a tree grows too quickly for the two-year maintenance cycle, we offer free removal for customers and our city partners. We’ve partnered with cities throughout the Valley to remove and replace trees that are encroaching on power lines. For every tree that must be removed for safety reasons, three to six new replacement trees are planted along roadways at nearby parks, schools and neighborhoods.
Since the start of our Right Tree Right Place program in 2018, we’ve removed over 1,300 trees and planted over 4,400!