Shelby Electric Cooperative's Operation Department has contracted with Endrizzi Contracting to perform right-of-way maintenance. Work began on Tuesday May 9th out of the Elwin substation. The majority of power outages are caused by tree-related issues. It is the cooperative's job to ensure trees, branches, limbs, and underbrush are safe distances from power lines to avoid contact, fire hazards, and power interruptions.
"This will be a comprehensive tree-trimming and vegetation management program the cooperative will be doing over the course of the next couple of years throughout its service territory. We will go a substation at a time and do complete tree-trimming and vegetation management along our entire right-of-way system. This will not affect members power in anyway as the work is being done; however, it will greatly aid in minimizing power outages and decrease the length of the outage, while improving safety and reliability of the system," said Brian Chevalier who is the construction superintendent at the cooperative.
The work that will be done by Endrizzi crews may include aerial, manual and mechanical pruning, removal of incompatible vegetation, brush mowing, applying environmentally safe herbicides, and pole inspections as necessary.
Work has begun out of the Elwin substation. Members can see which substation they receive power from by looking at the letter in front of their map location number found on their electric bill. If you have an E in front of your map location numbers, you are served by the Elwin substation.
**Never attempt to prune or remove trees near power lines or electrical equipment. We will perform maintenance work up to the meter. Property owners are responsible for anything past the meter and we recommend using a qualified line-clearance tree contractor to do the work. Contact us to have your line temporarily disconnected so work may be done safely by a qualified tree service. 800-677-2612 or 217-774-3986.**
You can also contact us if you are interested in any wood chips (free) while we are working in your area!
