CAP, there is a long list of reasons why you don't see tree crews out and about as much as in times past.
My personal experiences cover many different situations, but a lot of those have a common thread......ignorance.
As a company builds in lines, they have to get right-of-way agreements with landowners so that they can cross the properties, whether overhead or underground. Those agreements contain clauses that guarantee the utility access to their equipment and facilities. Most companies have that clause contained in the service agreement customers sign when they apply for service. This has happened for YEARS. In some municipalities, the city may have right-of-way already set so the utility can build within that area without having to get one of their own.
Now say Farmer John has a field that the power company wants to build a line across. A rep from the company contacts Farmer John and negotiates the right-of-way agreement. Farmer John signs it and things go smoothly for both for years. One day Farmer John drops dead with a 30mm tater wound from some wayward firing Luftweener. His property is sold to a developer and then a couple of hundred track houses pop up on the property. As the houses are built the developer plants lots of flowers, trees, puts in a pool, walking path.....on and on, to sell those homes. People buy those homes left and right because they see a nice community for their families. Once in their new home they decide to put up privacy fences, add a few trees to the back of the property as a windbreak....
Time passes and those trees grow, right up into the power lines. So the power company comes out to do trimming. Guess what happens next? A lawsuit is filed because the power company dared trim the trees planted RIGHT UNDER THE LINES. Care to guess who wins in this situation? The lawyers most often. The power company gets smeared because it was doing what needed to be done to provide the electricity the customer needs and is paying for. The customer ends up mad at the power company for trimming the trees the customer planted under the lines and in the right-of-way. So the power company gets slammed from both sides of the fence, even tho they are staying withing the right-of-way agreement that has been in place for years prior to the subdivision being built. And, ya know what else? The developer knew about the agreement, its mentioned in the property plats and sales articles, as well as the ones the homeowners signed when they bought the home.
So now the power company is getting slammed for trimming those trees, so they back off a bit. It sucks, but how many lawsuits, in this day and age of "political correctness", can a company fight before they start getting hurt on (and God I hate this place) Wall Street?
Its a double edged sword for the customers and power company alike.
Someone is once again going to bring up underground lines......remember a few lines before I mentioned customers putting in pools and fences, AND trees? Well, how many of those customers bothered to get a location service out to their property before they dung in to plant those trees? In my state it is a free service mandated by the state. The power companies all put in money to provide that service, FREE TO THE CUSTOMER. Heck, there is an ad about it in the front of the phonebook! Power companies advertise it all the time and still those customers don't call for it.
So they dig and hit the lines, sometimes not even seeing the damage they have caused. The lines don't necessarily part, so the power goes uninterrupted for some time. then the lines finally part and a customer down the street ends up without power. Out comes the power company to dig in a yard up the street. Now you have a customer mad because their power is out, and another mad because they have a mudhole in their front yard, that they sodded in the spring, next to their wonderful Bradley Pear tree. Its not the individual that planted the tree/fence/pool that takes the heat, its the power company. So who is ultimately at fault? Most times the power company ends up paying to have a landscaper fix the yard to the homeowners liking(at least back as good as it was). The question here is who pays for the damages/crews doing the work? Why should the company pay for it? They didn't cause the situation.
Those are examples of what I see happen on a maddening basis. I am not an idiot that thinks power companies don't hold back to keep the cash flowing. My gripes there are WAY too numerous to post. But I do think there are many times that the power company takes more lumps than they should.
Folks, please excuse the long post, but most people just don't realize all that is involved when this subject comes up.
