PECO's $4.2 Million Tree-Trimming Project Aims To Improve Charlestown Power

PECO is investing $4.2 million in a tree trimming and vegetation removal initiative to help improve electric service for 35,000 customers in several communities in Chester County, they announced in a press release Wednesday.

Specifically, work will occur in Charlestown, East Coventry, East Nantmeal, East Pikeland, East Vincent, North Coventry, Schuylkill, South Coventry, Upper Providence, Upper Uwchlan, Uwchlan, Wallace, West Pikeland and West Vincent townships, and Phoenixville and Spring City boroughs, PECO said.

The work is expected to be completed before the end of October.

“Our comprehensive vegetation management program has helped us reduce vegetation-related outages by approximately 50 percent during the last five years and is vital to safely keeping the lights on for our customers,” said Alex Brown, PECO manager of Vegetation Management, in a statement.

Each year, PECO said they invest approximately $500 million to enhance its electric infrastructure, including preventive maintenance and equipment upgrades to provide safe, reliable, affordable and clean energy and energy services to customers. As part of this work, PECO will invest about $41 million in vegetation management work around 3,300 miles of aerial electric lines in 2016.

PECO’s vegetation management crews are trained in arboricultural techniques as defined in the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) A300 Standard, according to the news release. This standard takes into account the type and location of the tree, its relation to overhead equipment and overall health of the tree.

Customers will be notified before work begins in their area.