Power Line Trimming

Power line trimming is the work of cutting tree branches and brush back from energized electrical lines so limbs can’t contact the wires, knock out power, or start a fire. 

In Utah that work gets split between the utility and the property owner, and most people guess wrong about which piece is theirs.

We’ve done power line trimming here since 1967, including contract work for Rocky Mountain Power, so this page lays out who handles what, why the clearance rules exist, and which trees on the Wasatch Front cause the most trouble.

Who Actually Handles Power Line Trimming, and Who Pays

The line running past your house isn’t one thing. There are three kinds, and each one comes with a different answer.

Transmission lines are the high-voltage lines carried on the big metal towers.

Distribution lines are the ones strung pole to pole through neighborhoods. Utilities are required to keep vegetation clear of both, so trees touching those main lines are the utility’s job, not yours.

In our service area that means Rocky Mountain Power. They run a year-round program, employ certified arborists to oversee it, and contract certified arborists to do the trimming. If a cottonwood in your parking strip is growing up into the distribution line overhead, that’s on them, and there’s usually no charge to you for the clearance work. LegalClarity + 2

The third line is the one people miss. The service drop is the single wire that runs from the pole to the connection on your house. Homeowners are typically responsible for trees near those lower-voltage lines that deliver power directly to the home. And here’s the other catch: if you want a tree pruned or removed for landscaping reasons rather than line clearance, Rocky Mountain Power won’t do it. You hire a private contractor. That’s where we come in.

One more thing worth knowing. Utah utilities have the right to access private property to trim or remove trees that threaten their lines, and if you let a tree become a hazard, the cost of emergency work can get passed back to you. They can trim on your property without your permission and without much notice. That’s not the utility being aggressive. It’s how they prevent the tree from taking down a whole neighborhood.