Trees are excellent conductors of electricity. When they grow into power lines or even just too close, it presents a major safety hazard. Electricity can travel through the tree and severely injure or kill individuals working or playing on or near the tree.
Reliability
Maintaining a proper clearance of at least 15 to 25 feet between our power lines and trees minimizes the impact trees have on your electric service. This clearance space helps prevent wind, snow, and ice from breaking tree limbs and sending them into the power lines.
Fire Mitigation
Maintaining proper clearance also decreases the risk of fires. When trees come in contact with our lines, they can catch fire.
Affordability
By maintaining clear rights-of-way around our power lines, we prevent the need to repair and replace power lines, poles, and other equipment that may have been damaged by trees during storms. The upfront cost of our vegetation management program is outweighed by the significant savings from reduced outages and equipment maintenance.
Our priority is to remove trees that are within our power line rights-of-way on our primary power lines. Primary power lines are the lines you see running from pole to pole on our system. Carthage Water & Electric Plant (CWEP) contractors remove trees within our rights-of-way along these lines because they carry high-voltage electricity to our local community and require special care and handling. In some cases, these lines cross private property.
While CWEP has the authority to remove trees located within our rights-of-way on private property, we understand this can be frustrating for homeowners. Our main concern is safety for you and for our employees. Tree trimming greatly increases both the safety and reliability of the electrical system and is a necessary maintenance procedure.
CWEP is not responsible for trimming or removing trees along the service lines running from our poles to your home.
The service line carrying power from our system to the meter on the side of your home has the least impact on power outages. As such, CWEP does not maintain vegetation clearances along these lines or along joint use wires such as telephone and cable lines. It is the homeowner's responsibility to trim trees and vegetation along these lines. Always hire a qualified and licensed professional tree trimmer to perform any work along your service lines. You may also request a temporary disconnect by calling (417) 237-7300 (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), and we will de-energize your service so your contractor can safely trim back your trees.
All disconnect requests must be made 24-hours prior. CWEP reserves the right to reschedule the request in the event of inclement weather, storm repair, power interruptions, and other unforeseen circumstances.
You can help us keep our power lines clear of trees by following better practices when you plant trees. With lifespans ranging from 50 to 5,000 years, you’ll want to plant your tree in a place where it can flourish long-term, not under power lines.
Don’t plant trees within 25 feet of CWEP power lines.
Only shrubs or small trees (growing less than 20 feet high) should be planted within 25 feet of power lines.
Don’t plant any vegetation around CWEP ground equipment, such as poles, transformers, or junction boxes.
Call "811" before you dig to locate any buried utility lines.
Report any trees growing into power lines or other CWEP equipment immediately to (417) 237-7300.
Never trim these trees yourself.
We highly recommend that you contact a tree professional to assess any tree trimming needs on your property. They can then contact CWEP at (417) 237-7300 when action is needed. If damage to CWEP infrastructure is caused by the private felling or trimming of trees, the member is responsible for repair costs.
Follow these tree-planting guidelines to ensure the safety of your tree and nearby power lines:
