Eversource to spend another $75 million on tree-trimming effort

Up from $68M in 2016

Eversource Energy will spend $75 million this year trimming trees that its vegatation management staff believes are likely to knock out the company’s distribution and transmission lines.

All but 18 of the 149 towns Eversource serves will see some kind of tree trimming going on this year, according to Mitch Gross, a company spokesman. This year’s treetrimming budget is up by 10 percent over the $68 million the utility spent last year.

“We have 17,000 miles of electric lines, so we try to do work on trees along about a quarter of that each year,” Gross said.

Sean Redding, manager of vegetation management at Eversource, the ongoing draught in Connecticut has put a great deal of stress on trees in the state. That makes trees more susceptible to losing limbs or falling over entirely and taking down power lines.

“Trees can have a devastating effect on the electric system and our consistent tree work helps to improve day-to-day reliability for customers during all types of weather,” Redding said in a statement.

Four towns — Wilton, East Hampton, Stonington and Stamford — will have tree trimming done along more than 100 miles of electric lines in each of those communities. Trimming already is underway in Bethany, Branford, Oxford, Seymour and Woodbridge, Gross said.

Area communities where tree-trimming work will be done later this year include Beacon Falls, Cheshire, Clinton, Guilford, Hamden, Old Saybrook, Wallingford and Westbrook.

Eversource hires tree removal specialists to do the actual trimming, Gross said. Towns where trimming work is being done already have been notified, he said, and while work usually is done along rights of way, Eversource notifies customers in advance if trimming is necessary on their property.

Gross said homeowners are responsible for tree maintenance on their own property, including keeping branches away from the lower-voltage service wires that connect their homes to the main utility lines on the street.

Eversource delivers electricity to 1.2 million customers in 149 cities and towns in Connecticut.