Forcing Power Company to Remove Tree or Drop Lines for Tree Removal

[toast123]

My question involves an easement in the state of: Washington

Hello, I'm a first time poster and I'm having trouble with trying to remove a large tree (or two) that is a danger to our house.

I have two trees on the corner of my property (next to the street) that are within 10' of the power lines. The power company has been trimming these trees, but one of the trees is diseased and we would like to have it removed so we don't have to worry about it falling on our house or our neighbors.

I called the power company and told them that we were concerned about these tree's damaging the lines and they sent someone out to evaluate the tree threat. The power company doesn't feel that these are a danger to the power lines so they said they wouldn't remove the trees, but told me I could have them removed if I wanted.

After some thought, we decided to remove the trees ourselves and hired someone to take down the tree's, but, because they are within 10' of the power lines the tree company said the power company needs to drop the lines before they can remove the trees. I called the power company again and requested them to drop the lines and they said they won't drop the main (high-voltage) lines only the one service line to my house and that I would have to hire a "Line Clearance Certified Tree Company" who can work within 10' of the lines to remove the trees.

These trees are so close to the power lines that I don't think it would be safe to remove the trees without safing-off the power lines and I don't think it's reasonable for them to refuse to take down these lines so we can safely remove these trees. Do I have any legal leverage I can use to get them to take down their lines to remove these trees?

Thank you.

[jk]

as the power company said: hire a company that is properly trained and certified to fall the trees. Ultimately it would likely be less expensive than having the power company drop the lines anyway.


Yes, they get to charge for dropping the lines.

[Disagreeable]

Hire someone else who is competent. A proper tree company will cut the tree in small sections and lower/drop it until it is below the power line level. I just had one done that was about 8 feet from the power lines and 80 feet tall. It can be done by boom or climber. The particular guy that did mine is a climber but boom is better for this work.

[jk]

And to address the title (don't know if you wrote it or a mod changed it):

its your tree. The power company has no obligation to remover your tree and as I said, if you get out your wallet and enough money falls out, you may be able to get them to drop the lines but they are not obligated to.

[toast123]

Thanks for the help!