Tree Trimming Archives - People Powering Life

Reliability starts before the storm

Feb 11, 2026 | Reliability

Winter storms can bring heavy snow, ice and strong winds. Conditions that put stress on power lines and equipment. That’s why we don’t wait for trouble to strike. Our teams work throughout the year to inspect, maintain and upgrade the grid. From replacing aging equipment to installing smart technology that helps us detect and respond to outages faster, these steps make a big difference when storms hit.

In 2025, we completed more than 75 reliability projects across our service area, strengthening the grid and reducing the risk of outages during severe weather. Through this work, upgrades to poles, wires and equipment are benefiting reliability directly. New poles and wires are designed to withstand 100 mile-per-hour winds, newly installed devices and reconfigured segments of line improve resiliency and, in some cases, relocated poles and wires are moved out of inaccessible areas making any restoration safer and quicker for our crews and customers.

And when winter weather hits, what’s the biggest cause of outages? Trees and branches. More specifically when they come into contact with power lines. To help prevent tree-related outages, we have a robust vegetation management program that helps to keep lines clear and safe.

Our crews trim trees and remove hazardous branches along thousands of miles of power lines every year. This proactive work helps prevent outages before they happen and keeps your power flowing — even when winter weather is at its worst. In fact, in 2026, we’re planning to clear vegetation along more than 4,750 miles of lines, to help reduce outages and improve reliability for thousands of customers in the process.

We’ve also continued to invest in Smart Grid technology that helps us respond faster when outages occur. The system can reroute power in real time, isolate problems and restore service to many customers in minutes without having to wait for a crew. It’s just one way we’re using innovation to keep you connected. This past August, our Smart Grid surpassed 3 million outages avoided, which equates to more than 650 million minutes of powering moments that matter for customers.

Thanks to these combined efforts, customers experienced nearly 25% fewer outages in 2025 compared to 2024. That’s progress. And it reflects how we’re continuously working as your partner in power, to keep your service strong and dependable every day, no matter what the weather throws at us.

Behind the scenes, our storm response teams monitor weather patterns, stage equipment and prepare crews to respond quickly when severe weather is on the way. We’re ready 24/7 because we know how much you depend on reliable electricity. For safety, warmth and peace of mind.

To learn more about what we’re doing every day to keep your service reliable, visit pplelectric.com/reliability.

What You Can Do

While we’re working hard to keep the lights on, it never hurts to make sure you’re safe and prepared too. Here are some simple, proactive things you can do to ensure that you and your family are ready for whatever winter may throw our way:

Create and practice an emergency plan with your family.
Keep an emergency kit with flashlights, batteries and essential supplies on hand.
Be sure to charge your devices before a storm hits.
Know how to report an outage using our new mobile app or on our website.

For more tips and resources, check out our emergency preparedness guide.

Learn How You Can Prepare

Investing in reliability: how we’re keeping the lights on for you

Aug 26, 2025 | Reliability

Fewer Outages, Brighter Days

When you flip your light switch, you expect one thing: the lights to come on — and stay on. That simple moment is at the heart of everything we do. In 2025, thanks to our ongoing work, we’re delivering on that promise with real improvements.

Results You Can See — and Feel

So far this year, our customers have experienced 510,000 fewer interruptions compared to the same period in 2024. That’s not just a number, it’s hundreds of thousands of evenings uninterrupted, workdays powered through and family moments kept bright. These improvements aren’t by chance. They’re the direct result of our investments in reliability and resilience.

One major game-changer has been our comprehensive tree trimming program. By regularly trimming and removing trees along our power lines, we’ve slashed tree-related outages by 11%. Fewer branches mean fewer outages — simple as that.

Building a Stronger, Smarter Grid

We’re investing nearly $7 billion between 2025 and 2028 in upgrades to our distribution and transmission systems. Our goal? A grid that’s tougher, smarter and ready to handle whatever Mother Nature throws our way.

Our teams are hard at work replacing and upgrading lines and equipment. Dozens of comprehensive storm hardening projects are happening across our 29-county service territory to further reduce outage frequency and duration.

Our ongoing work includes:

Trimming and removing trees along our power lines to prevent outages before they happen.
Replacing aging equipment, adding stronger poles, pole-top equipment and wires, and installing animal, avian and lighting guards.
Adding smart grid devices and sensors across our system to optimize the ability to reroute power remotely and automatically, decreasing the number of customers affected by an outage and the outage duration. Since 2015, our smart grid has avoided more than 3 million outages.
Continuing proactive inspections and maintenance to assess the performance and health of the system and proactively replacing aging or damaged equipment before an outage occurs.

Our Promise: Reliability You Can Count On

Every day, our mission is to make sure you can go about your life without interruption. We’re not done yet; the work continues, and each improvement we make we do it for you.

Stay tuned for more updates on how our investments are keeping your lights on, your life powered and your moments uninterrupted. We’re proud to be your partners in power.

Keeping our customers safe and the lights on in Harrisburg

Sep 2, 2022 | Reliability

It took a lot of strategic planning, hard work and the use of a 100-ton crane, but residents on one city block in Harrisburg can rest easier now that a huge tree that had become a safety hazard is gone.

We partnered with the City of Harrisburg and tree-removal experts to safely remove the gargantuan Elm, with roots spanning multiple properties and branches entangled in our power lines.

Once customers began calling with safety concerns, we knew we had to act before the tree caused an electrical fire or outages—or fell and hurt someone or damaged property.

“Tree maintenance on private property generally isn’t our responsibility,” said Regional Affairs Director Maggie Sheely. “But, when it comes to safety, we don’t compromise. We step up to do the right thing and keep our customers safe.”

Equipped with bucket trucks and generators, our crews were on site for four days, untangling the large tree from our lines with precision.

It was a TREE-mendous effort by all that created a safer environment and ensured more reliable service for some Harrisburg residents.

Value for your dollar: Reliable service and more

Oct 29, 2021 | Reliability

We work every day to keep your electric bills as low as possible. But paying any bill — especially these days — isn’t fun. That’s why we want you to know what you get for your energy dollar.

Let’s start with one of the most important aspects of our jobs: providing reliable electric service. Our electric grid consists of thousands of miles of poles and wires that deliver electricity to your homes, as well as the state-of-the-art technologies that manage them. Every year, we invest in systems and activities to keep our grid on the leading edge so we can keep your lights on.

Here are just three examples of the many reliability initiatives underway throughout our 29-county service territory.

Vegetation Management

Fallen tree branches are the number one cause of storm-related power outages. That’s why our crews work hard to identify, trim and remove trees and tree limbs before they cause problems. Our maintenance program is designed so we can trim the right trees at the right times to prevent outages. We use data to identify the areas that have the highest probability of tree-related damage and act accordingly.

Smart Grid Investments

Back in the day, when there was an outage on one of our lines, most customers on that damaged line lost power. Now, thanks to an impressive combination of automated sensors and switches, coupled with an advanced software system, our grid can reroute power automatically to limit the number of customers impacted by an outage. Plus, the system can shorten outage duration. That means an outage that once could have lasted hours becomes a momentary blip. You might have to reset your digital clocks, but you won’t have to break out your flashlights.

Line Monitoring

Every day, we proactively monitor the thousands of miles of lines that deliver electricity to our Pennsylvania customers. We’re looking for trouble spots, equipment damage and any other issues that could cause you to lose power. We rely on our dedicated crew to identify and report issues, but for some of our assets we also use unique methods, like camera-equipped drones, to keep an eye out for problems. Drones capture images of lines and transformers. They do thermal imaging to catch hotspots that can signal future problems. They also improve our vegetation management program by measuring the distance from trees to power lines, allowing us to schedule trimming before it’s too late.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. To stay up to date on our reliability investments, follow us on social media.

Keeping Lines Clear, Reducing Outages

Jun 24, 2021 | Reliability

Trees are the number one cause of storm-related outages. That’s why we take a proactive approach to keeping lines clear.

Thanks to the combined efforts of our vegetation management program, in 2020, we reduced tree-related outages by 14 percent over the prior year.

Here’s how we do it:

Routine trimming

We trim trees across 33,000 miles of overhead power lines to reduce the risk of outages. We have an established time- and- condition based maintenance program to make sure we’re trimming trees at the right times. We also use data analytics and innovative technology to identify the areas with a higher probability of tree-caused outages.

Don’t attempt to trim or remove trees near our lines on your own. Our qualified line clearance tree trimmers have specialized training to work around our power lines. If you want to remove a tree growing within 10 feet of a power line, call us first.

Goodbye hazard trees

Imagine how difficult and dangerous it is when a large tree brings down power lines in a storm. Assessing the damage, clearing the area for safe repairs, and restoring power to those impacted by a downed line can take hours.

That’s why we proactively remove hazard trees that pose a threat of falling and damaging our lines with permission from the property owner. The removal of these trees in advance of a storm prevents significant damage, removes a safety risk for the public and our employees, and reduces the likelihood of power outages.

In addition to tree trimming, we install animal guards, inspect and maintain our lines and equipment, and continue to improve our smart grid technology to provide you with reliable service all throughout the year.

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