Trees protect our home from the elements, beautify our neighborhoods, clean our air, and bring color to our lives. But they can also be dangerous. During a storm, even the healthiest trees can fall on personal property and electric power lines, disrupting your electric service. Mid-South Synergy trims and removes tree branches on a regular basis for general safety as well as to alleviate potential power interruptions. One of Mid-South’s primary responsibilities is to provide safe, reliable electricity to it’s members; keeping the lines clear is an important and necessary part of that.
Call Before you Dig
Building a deck? Planting a tree? Installing a mailbox? 811 is the new number you should call before you begin any digging project. As the new, federally-mandated, national “Call Before You Dig” number, 811 was created to help protect you from unintentionally hitting underground utility lines while digging on your property.
People digging often make risky assumptions about whether or not they should get their utility lines marked due to concerns about project delays, costs and previous calls about other projects. These assumptions can be life threatening. Every digging job requires a call, even small projects like planting trees or shrubs. If you hit an underground utility line while digging, you can harm yourself and those around you, disrupt service to an entire neighborhood and potentially be responsible for fines and repair costs.
Plan Before You Plant
Members can do their part in keeping right-of-ways clear when landscaping or planting new trees. Mid-South Synergy does not recommend planting shrubs or trees on the right-of-way. During outages, bad weather, or at night when trouble occurs, gaining access to power lines may damage shrubs located under the lines. However, if you must landscape adjacent to the right-of- way, careful planning during plant selection and location is necessary to keep branches out of power lines once the shrubs or trees mature. This will allow trees and shrubs to reach their maximum symmetry and beauty. Before planting a tree, it is wise to consider what the mature height of the tree will be. Different species of trees should be planted further distances from powerlines.