trees sparking powerline info...

[janetg]

just an fyi for those 'in the know'....

we have a neighbor whose palm trees touch the power lines when the wind blows a certain way. those palm fronds are now burned..and it's been a fun show in the evening watching it spark and arc..and so on.

so i got to thinking, should probably let the power company know, so i called them...

their response? you got it...well...that's the owner's problem...they are responsible for getting the tree cut down.

i said, ok...so if it sparks and the sparks burn down my garage...which attaches to my house and my house burns down...who do i sue? you - or the lot owner...their response? the lot owner of course. i just replied...well, i'll do both, how about that.

i really thought if you reported something like this - they would take care of it.

way to go centerpoint energy.

[HFMarshburnJR]

Janet -

Interesting response you got from Centerpoint. They were in my yard for another matter about a year ago and noticed that my palm tree was getting too close to the power lines and they sent a crew out to cut my tree down. They did an excellent job and it did not cost me a thing. I believe you ought to call and talk to a supervisor.

FWIW

HFM

[fabian_r]

You Might Want To Call 911, That Might Get Thier Attention

[CaptainTom]

next time they are sparking, call the fire department. they will get them removed if they are a hazard.

[JamesB]

reliant energy has a tree service in my neighborhood trimming all the trees away from the power lines. so im not sure why your area is any different.

they have left me 2 notices stating they will be here at the end of the month and I have seen the trucks for the last 3 weeks in the neighborhood.

James

[brad]

Your power company doesn't own the lines.. that's TXU Delivery. Call them and they will tell your neighbor to take care of it or they will.... and if they do, they will bill your neighbor.

[HFMarshburnJR]

Brad -

It isn't about owning the lines..in Houston , anyway. Centerpoint Energy has the contract in the Houston area to maintain the area that is the utility easement. If they observe an "unsafe" situation, it is within their purview to fix it and make it safe.

HFM

[janetg]

thanks to all - i think i'm going to call back tomorrow and ask for a supervisor..and take some pictures for some evidence.

[picman]

We had a problem in our neighborhood - a neighbor called and asked for the "line supervisor" for the area. You might give that a shot.

[Teddington]

I hope you're at least taking advantage of a unique photo op, errr, documenting the problem!! Let's see the photos.

[jerrykr]

Here in the DFW area, I believe the company responsible for power delivery is Oncor. In any case, you can call your electricity provider and report any problem with trees too close to your lines. They have crews who will come out and clear the lines.

That said, that's the official story, and it is not un-true. The reality is that the crews are simply unable to deal with all of the tree trimming that needs to be done. You have to be the 'squeaky wheel' to get anything done in your neighborhood before the situation gets bad enough to knock out your power.

Thankfully we don't have many ice storms like Oklahoma is experiencing right now, and usually when we do, they are not as severe. But we do have them, and sagging tree limbs and especially breaking tree limbs can and will knock down the wires, or just short them out without knocking them down.

You don't have to have ice to knock your power out. If those wet palm tree limbs lying across the lines short out the power wires, a breaker will throw in your area, and you will be without power until your provider gets your delivery company to come out and reset the breaker. Sound like a help desk call yet???

We had that happen, and our power was back on for 10 minutes until the wet limbs again caused a short. The guy was gone by that time. It was 4 more days before they were able to get back to us, find and trim the limb, and reset our breaker again. (power was out all over the city at the time).

Call your provider and get on the schedule to have your lines cleared. It took us (my neighbors and myself) 9 months to get it done here.

[LoungeLizard]

Originally Posted by fabian_r

You Might Want To Call 911, That Might Get Thier Attention

Excellent use of a critical emergency resource.

[jon_k]

Originally Posted by LoungeLizard

Excellent use of a critical emergency resource.

People use it for far, far, less. This is a potential situation for emergency so it is not a total waste.

Call the power co. back and get a supervisor. If he's an idiot as well, then call the non-priority line for the fire department (e.g. non-911) and say that there is arcs going crazy and you're concerned for your family and property.

If the power company won't cooperate, what recourse do you have then to get authorities involved?

[CobyPhoto]

Centerpoint just finished trimming the trees on MY property away from THIER lines and they sure didn't bill me. (Nor have I ever been billed in 7 years and they do this annually.) It is a cost of doing business...maintaining the delivery conduit for the product they sale.

If it is the main lines and NOT the line that comes into the individual home, then it is Centerpoints' issue. If it is the line that comes off of the main transmission line, to the house, THAT is the responsiblity of the home owner.

If it is the Main LIne, just keep on the line and raise enough hell and they will be out there in your neightborhood to fix it. Threaten to sick the 11 News Defenders on them...bet that will get a response. Centerpoint don't need the perception that they don't care about the people purchasing their product.

CJ

[jon_k]

If it is the line that comes off of the main transmission line, to the house, THAT is the responsiblity of the home owner.

Is this how it works in the power business?

I never knew the "demarcation" for the power company was the transformer/distribution wire. I'm kind of shocked (NOT LITERALLY, thankfully!) if it's true. What if the wire leading to your meter gets cut? Is it my responsibility to grab a ladder and re-connect it to the LIVE transformer, or power pole? There's no safe way to shut that off for my maintainence.

Seems a safer demarc point is the meter. This may actually be how it works, since the power companies claim to own the meter, or at least forbid tampering. I'm not sure. Fact is, if work need be done, it's easier to pull the meter to disconnect power and safely work on things up to that point. I think they should be responsible for anything up the line from the meter. If my responsibility for maintainence of the wire does go up to the transmission line, I hope they turn off the transmission power if I ever have to reconnect my wiring!

In the telco business the home owner is responsible for everything beyond the demarcation point. The demarc is the thing on the side of your house, the box, where the phone line from exterior meets internal house wiring at wire posts. From the demarc and beyond, you're responsible for your wiring. Telco is responsible from their end all the way up to the demarc box (if they can verify dialtone from the demarc box, everything else is up to you) This makes it convenient for the customer to work on the wiring of the house, it's a safe way to disconnect the lines, and a good point to terminate service support. That's the way it's worked in that industry for a good few years now. Just a few tidbits about how the telco handles responsibility in their systems. (NOTE: I don't work in telco. I work in data communications, but I've picked up quite a bit since data networks and phone networks are integrated so much now, both are good to know in the business.)

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I think regardless if you bug them enough they'll just do it.