ComEd Is Coming for Your Trees (And That's A Good Thing!)

By JoshMogerman in News on Jan 29, 2012 9:00PM

We were rudely awakened from well-deserved slumber this week by the shrill roar of a wood chipper in the alley behind the Chicagoist’s Bronzeville bureau. For the first time in recent memory ComEd contractors were trimming trees near power lines in the area.

It may just be a coincidence that later in the week the utility was slammed by a report from the Attorney General’s office pushing back on ComEd claims that they were not responsible for costs associated with massive power outages this summer. Lisa Madigan’s office made its opinion pretty clear on the utility’s effort to avoid paying damages to suburban ratepayers who were impacted by days of power loss, according to the Trib’s Julie Wernau:

Rather than being caused by "unpreventable damage due to weather," many of ComEd's outages could have been prevented with more consistent tree trimming, the AG's office argued. ComEd's stated policy is that trees should clear lines by at least 10 feet, but many electrical lines in alleyways and behind residences "revealed years of vegetation management neglect," the report states.

"Had ComEd maintained a sufficient tree-trimming program in these areas, many of the outages would have been avoided or shortened," the report concludes…

ComEd has said in testimony in the case -- in which they are seeking a waiver of liability for outages that occurred during six separate storms that occurred in June and July of 2011 -- that its entire distribution system conformed to national standards when the storms occurred.

The utility has said the outages did not result from poor maintenance.

The AG's office calls that statement "blatantly untrue."

Ouch. The report comes in response to a waiver request from ComEd before the Illinois Commerce Commission, which used more measured language in agreeing that the utility was at fault and on the hook for some of the damages. The utility has two weeks to respond before a final decision comes down on the matter, but it sounds like folks could be getting some cash back.

So, expect the dull roar of chain saws in your alley soon... While being awakened early is a drag, we are happy to give up a little bit of sleep to avoid the sort of mess experienced in Highland Park this summer when power was out for four days, leaving the village with the unenviable task of collecting tons of spoiled food from refrigerators around town. We don’t even want to think about what that would look like in our neighborhood.

Trim away ComEd, please!