FAQ

The ROW is cleared by cut­ting, trim­ming, mow­ing and where per­mis­si­ble, apply­ing her­bi­cides. In most cas­es, all shrubs, brush and trees are removed under pri­ma­ry (main), over­head pow­er lines. They are also removed, as and around sec­ondary, low-volt­age pow­er lines that bring pow­er from the trans­former to your meter. Cut­ting and trim­ming are done by trained, pro­fes­sion­al util­i­ty tree trim­mers using spe­cif­ic and proven stan­dards typ­i­cal to the indus­try.

ROW refers to the cor­ri­dor or path­way an elec­tric line fol­lows, whether it’s along the road or through the woods. ROW pro­vides util­i­ty crews with access to lines for improve­ments, main­te­nance, and repairs. It also pro­vides an oper­a­tional safe­ty zone between the elec­tric lines and trees, build­ings, etc. On the major­i­ty of its lines, York Elec­tric holds ease­ments that give it the right to clear land 15 feet from either side of the wire.

A clear ROW min­i­mizes out­ages, improves pow­er qual­i­ty, reli­a­bil­i­ty, and safe­ty.

• Caus­es pow­er out­ages
• Caus­es lights to blink
• Obstructs visu­al inspec­tions, mak­ing repairs dif­fi­cult and cost­ly
• Blocks access for main­te­nance and repairs, caus­ing delays
• Wastes elec­tric­i­ty by draw­ing it to the ground
• Becomes a fire haz­ard
• Becomes a safe­ty haz­ard for util­i­ty work­ers and mem­bers
• Chil­dren and adults should nev­er climb, trim, or touch trees that con­tact pow­er lines!

York Elec­tric’s ROW main­te­nance pro­gram bal­ances the preser­va­tion of nat­ur­al habi­tats against the ser­vice reli­a­bil­i­ty needs of our mem­bers and the safe­ty needs of the gen­er­al pub­lic. In fact, it can actu­al­ly ben­e­fit the ecosys­tem and oth­er nat­ur­al envi­ron­ments. ROW main­te­nance efforts cre­ate open areas that encour­age the growth of wild­flow­ers, ferns, grass­es, flow­ers, berries, and oth­er low-grow­ing shrubs.