Whose mess is it? Electric company says it's not required to dispose of trees that fall on lines

May 31 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Ed Waters Jr. The Frederick News-Post, Md.

A Sunday storm left about 14,000 people without electricity, according to Potomac Edison.

Power was restored, but a limb from a neighbor's tree that had fallen on the power lines remained in Bill Dahut's yard.

"On Monday, (the Potomac Edison crew) worked hard to get the service up. They took the huge branch off the power lines," said Dahut, who lives on Lindbergh Avenue in Frederick.

But after cutting the limb into large pieces, the utility company workers did not remove the debris.

"I called Potomac Edison and was told their policy is that they don't take the trees away," Dahut said. "I told them it was a bad policy.

"The pieces are too big for me to move out for the city to collect them out front," he said. "Think of the elderly and disabled people who couldn't clean up the debris."

The branch fell from a tree in Beverly Byron's yard, Dahut said. Byron offered to have someone remove the debris if Potomac Edison doesn't do it, Dahut said.

A member of the utility company crew offered to come and get the debris, Dahut said Wednesday. Dahut did not have the person's name, but said the man would be doing the removal on his own, not for the electric company, and would use the wood in a wood stove at his home.

Todd Meyers, a spokesman for Potomac Edison, said Tuesday the company is not responsible for clearing trees.

"We restore the power. That is the extent of it," Meyers said. "We don't own the trees. It is the property owner's responsibility."

Dahut said he has called in a complaint to the Maryland Public Service Commission, which oversees electric utilities.

Regina Davis, spokeswoman for the PSC, said the utility company must restore power, but the disposition of trees would be the responsibility of the property owner. The PSC gets many calls from consumers but does not discuss individual calls, she said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

The utility company expects a large number of storms this summer, Meyers said.

"I don't have any statistics on how many trees we have had to cut that were disrupting power. (Trees) are the primary cause of outages," Meyers said. "We expect every time there is a storm that there will be trees or parts of trees that we have to cut."

The customer is responsible for what Potomac Edison calls the "service drop" or "service wire," Meyers said. That is the line to the customer's property from the utility pole.

Customers should use certified arborists to work on trees around utility wires, Meyers said. Potomac Edison will de-energize the line during tree removal and re-energize it afterward.

In rural or conservation areas where trees are removed for rights of way or because they pose a threat to power lines, debris is left on the ground, Meyers said. This is especially true when helicopters are used to cut trees in remote areas.

During scheduled tree cutting in residential areas, arborists contracted to Potomac Edison will remove debris, but not when there is storm damage, Meyers said. After a planned April clearing in the Worman's Mill neighborhood, tree debris was removed.

"But we don't remove the trees when it is an act of God," Meyers said.

Amy Preddy, a spokeswoman for State Farm Insurance, said homeowner policies cover only damage to a house or garage.

"Trees in the yard that didn't hit a covered structure are not part of the insurance policy," Preddy said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

Alan Nichols, owner of Appalachian Tree Service in Frederick, said his firm frequently removes trees for customers after a storm.

His company does both emergency work and regular maintenance, Nichols said.

Nichols said Potomac Edison will temporarily cut power or put an insulated sleeve on wires so his crew can remove or trim trees.

While cleaning up after-storm debris, Nichols said, his crews may see trees that pose a potential hazard and recommend trimming or removal.

Dahut believes Potomac Edison's crew could have "minimized" the size of the tree sections they left behind, which might have allowed him to move them.

"When Potomac Edison restores power they are really taking care of themselves," Dahut said Wednesday. "Without the power on, they have no revenue stream. I'm not using kilowatts when the power is out."