Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) will begin tree-trimming work this month in Colts Neck, Eatontown, Fair Haven, Howell, Long Branch, Manalapan, Red Bank, Shrewsbury and Tinton Falls, as well as several towns in Middlesex County.
The local effort is part of a $24 million project involving more than 3,400 miles of utility lines across 13 counties in northern and central New Jersey. The company seeks to maintain proper clearances around electrical equipment and prevent tree-related outages.
“As a result of the tree-trimming we have done in the past, outages from trees and limbs falling into our lines have decreased, even with the significant number of storms we have experienced this winter,” Anthony Hurley, vice president of operations for JCP&L, said. “In fact, our system average duration for outages was more than 12 percent better than the same period last year. By continuing this successful program, our goal is to improve service reliability even more by protecting our wires and other infrastructure from tree-related damage.”
All work will be done by certified forestry contractors Aspen Tree Service, Asplundh Tree Expert Co., Davey Tree Expert Co., Jaflo Inc. and Lewis Tree Service Inc.
The contractors will inspect vegetation near the lines to ensure trees are pruned in a manner that preserves the health of the tree, while also maintaining safety near electric facilities. Trees that present a danger or are diseased may also be removed.
To further decrease tree-related outages, JCP&L’s foresters will educate residents who live near company equipment about the importance of properly maintaining trees on their property.
“The majority of our tree-related outages involve trees located outside our usual trimming corridor,” Hurley said. “By letting customers know their trees have the potential to damage our wires and equipment, our hope is they can do the proper trimming so potential outages can be prevented.”
For more information, follow JCP&L on Twitter at @JCP_ L or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/JCPandL.