Out local power company had an extended outage because they were not keeping up on tree trimming then a major ice store caused a lot of overhanging tree branches to knock down lines so everyone complained, they were in the news, etc.
So in the spring they came out and butchered everyones trees, cut out about 2/3 of the big tree that shaded our house, made a huge lopsided tree that looked terrible.
So its a catch 22, complain too much to the electric company and loose all your shade trees.
Our local power company (a cooperative) is one of the few that I've seen that does a very good job of keeping lines clean. And luckily, they also happen to sub contract out alot of the work to a company that has competent employees. In cases like your tree, they ask the homeowner how they want it done: this much of the tree MUST go, you can go further to the point of cutting the whole thing down if you want. Shrubs that don't have a chance of growing high enough to interfere with the lines will be left, but if its a tree, and its in the right-of-way, its gone. They also pick everything up after they leave (free loads of mulch if you want it).
The other company in the area (SCE&G), just plain sucks IMO. They're the ones that leave trees that are already around the lines, if they bother to ever trim anything at all. Only thing I've seen them do lately is go and spray under the lines, so now everywhere you go, you see a bunch of dead brown trees and brush, and they have no plans to remove any of it.
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