Ameren boosts funding for tree trimming

Trees are the No. 1 cause of power outages in Ameren Corporation's service area, including Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois. After outages left more than 1 million customers without power last year in the two states following several severe storms, the Missouri Public Service Commission recommended Ameren take a more aggressive approach to tree trimming.

In Missouri, the corporation's subsidiary AmerenUE increased its budget for vegetation management -- primarily tree trimming -- to $34 million in 2006. This year the electric company plans to spend more than $45 million -- a 33 percent increase from last year.

"Our goal is to try to improve our system and our reliability to meet the expectation of the 21st century," said Mike Cleary, an Ameren spokesman in Jefferson City, Mo. "Customers' expectations are much higher than they would have been 15 or 20 years ago when everyone wasn't so reliant on things like computers."

Ameren has hired six crews from the Shade Tree Service Co. in Fenton, Mo., to cut trees back from power lines along the right of way in Cape Girardeau. Depending on weather, the work is expected to be completed by August or September, Cleary said.

Homeowners are responsible for clearing away vegetation that may interfere with the line between the pole and the house, Cleary said. Customers should contact the utility company to disconnect the line for safety when trimming trees.

Cleary said the Ameren tree-trimming program covers 33,392 miles of lines throughout Missouri. The company trims trees in urban areas on four-year cycles, and rural areas every six years.

Tree trimming in Cape Girardeau began in the southwest part of the city last spring. Workers made their way to the northeast by the end of the summer. Shade Tree Service workers will concentrate on the center of town this spring and summer.

"It could help prevent some outages," Cleary said.

But he has examined photos from the severe storms that passed through Ameren's coverage area last year and says some of the uprooted trees that caused power outages were originally far away from lines.

Cleary said the issue of trees being too close to lines has drawn the highest number of customer complaints recently. He said Ameren is exploring the option of putting more lines underground to see if it's a more desirable system when factoring in the area's high winds. But he said that is not a perfect solution.

According to Cleary, 20 percent of the state's power lines are already underground. The costs of putting lines underground can be up to 10 times more than running lines above ground, but money could be saved with fewer repairs.

It can also take longer to find the root of a problem in an underground system because problems are more visible above ground along the road.

The Ameren Web site, www.ameren.com, has tips for selecting the right place to plant a tree, including the suggested distances from power lines.

Cleary said he wants to assure customers that there is a science to tree trimming. Tree trimmers are trying to train the branches to grow away from the power line. That, he cautions, could affect the shape of the tree.

tkrakowiak@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137