Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

TwinTtoo t1_j5ojzbd wrote

Trees. Maine is cutting their trees year round around power lines. NH does not do they. The only time I’ve seen them cut a tree was when it is already in someone’s yard/ middle of the road.

31

SRTie4k t1_j5okqg8 wrote

We at least partially have the deregulated environment to thank for that. Eversource invests the absolute minimum required to keep their equipment operational. If you look at the other utilities in this state, like NH Power Co-op, they literally cut trees down within 10ft of the lines down to the ground, while Eversource only trims branches 6ft around the lines themselves.

22

bassboat1 t1_j5ov0sf wrote

PSNH was even worse than the current Eversource. They only sent out cutting crews after irate citizens lit up their elected officials.

8

Psychological-Cry221 t1_j5perrq wrote

It’s hard to cut down trees as aggressively as some would suggest. Lots of people get pretty upset when it’s a tree on their own property.

7

SRTie4k t1_j5pgo6h wrote

From what I know their policy is to do it and ask for forgiveness later. My mother in law lives in Rumney and had a bunch of trees on her property abutting the road cut down without her input.

I'm not saying it's the right thing to do, but at some point we have to ask ourselves what trade-offs we need to make to keep our power infrastructure more reliable, especially with the push towards everything being electric. Underground service would be great, but it's not feasible in most of the state, and I'd assume prohibitively expensive.

1

TwinTtoo t1_j5oodds wrote

Sounds like this may be the likely culprit

3

northursalia t1_j5om0kf wrote

I can't speak for providers other than mine, but Unitil in at least the seacoast has crews (usually Asplundh) cutting trees back constantly - I see them or the results of their work all the time. They called 3 weeks ago asking to trim my trees away from the power lines, and it's a small apple tree.

The town and/or homeowners/landowners have to allow the utilities to do tree trimming work. Can't fault them if they are asked and told no. The large storm in December was the first time we've lost power here for any length of time since the last huge ice storm in 2012 I believe it was.

6

Ok-Cantaloupe7160 t1_j5oo1ke wrote

The Co-op was always trimming trees when I lived in an area serviced by them. Rarely lost power. Now I live in Eversource land. Been lucky so far but I never see them trimming trees.

2

Tullyswimmer t1_j5pv97p wrote

My parents have co-op, and the co-op trims trees constantly.

My parents also lose power constantly, for hours at a time, because the co-op only does last mile and relies on eversource upstream.

3

Altruistic-Rise6398 t1_j5pc7dv wrote

That’s actually not true. Eversource has cut several trees down in my yard and reassess every year

1

TwinTtoo t1_j5pjca3 wrote

This could be region specific. I’ve never seen them cutting trees proactively before a storm or before the trees even fall. I’ve only seen them after the fact

4

f2000sa t1_j5pk7a4 wrote

Yes, they cut lots of tree in Hollis

1