Tree cutting
A major cause of power cuts is trees and vegetation growing too close to our overhead lines. We have a maintenance programme in place to keep our overhead lines clear of vegetation.
Electricity companies like us, land owners and occupiers have a legal obligation to keep the public safe and ensure they have a robust vegetation management programme in place to.
We invest over £10m a year in the programme to ensure we can safely access our equipment when needed for maintenance and upgrade works and reduce the risks vegetation can have on our network during bad weather.
Since 2019 we have completed the following maintenance work: -
- Inspected 18,922km of overhead lines, which is the equivalent distance from Manchester to New Zealand
- Surveyed 5,929km of overhead lines
- Cut 3,187km of trees back from overhead lines
Tree Cutting and Vegetation Management
Watch our video
See our teams in action delivering our vegetation programme.