Belco reminded property owners to cut back their trees from power lines as they continue to cause outages across the island.

More than 3,400 customers lost power last year as a result of trees falling on power lines that were not related hurricanes.

They took place in every parish and there were only three months in which there were no tree-related outages.

Many were owing to winter gales, with more than 750 customers losing power in January, February and March. Gales are expected during the next few months.

Belco spends about $250,000 per year to hire local landscaping companies to ensure trees are cut back near main line circuits and some branch lines.

This approach has prevented outages on main line circuits in the last seven years.

Belco does not offer a tree-trimming service but property owners can contact Belco if they are unsure of their responsibilities.

If supply to the power lines needs to be turned off, Belco will work with homeowners and contractors to ensure it is safe to work around the power lines.

Residents or their landscaping service planning to trim trees near power lines are asked to call or e-mail Belco in advance and power will be disconnected to ensure safety.

Other than under emergency conditions, such work will usually be scheduled about three weeks from the date of request, which will allow Belco time to programme the outage.

The Operations Centre will schedule an outage and issue an isolation confirmation certificate to the contractor which clearly outlines areas that are safe to work in and areas that are not.

There is no charge to customers for arranging power supply be turned off for tree trimming.

The Belco representative who disconnects the power ensures that the person in charge of the work on site is informed of the limits of the work zone.

In addition, the Belco representative on site will post danger notices on any adjacent live apparatus in order to clearly identify the safe working zone.

Customers will be advised to treat the system as if it were live and to avoid all contact with Belco equipment.

It is recommended that there is a minimum ten feet clearance between power lines and trees.

Prior to the power being restored, the Belco representative will:

• Ensure that the person in charge of the work is informed that the section is about to be made live.

• Ensure that the isolated section is clear and intact prior to switching power back on.

• Ensure that the person in charge of the work is informed when power has been restored to that section.

• Ensure that any danger notices posted have been removed.

A Belco spokesman said: “While many people think trees only affect power lines during hurricanes, we actually get damage from trees throughout the year.

“There are several ways outages can be caused such as rain that can cause branches to become heavy and rest on power lines or winter gales can cause tree limbs to snap and cause outages.

“Often when a property owner’s trees cause power lines to fault, it affects not only their own property but those of neighbouring properties that are on the same circuit.

“The best way to prevent these outages is to ensure trees are trimmed with a minimum of ten feet of clearance from power lines.

“With winter gales now affecting the island now is the time to get trees trimmed so property owners can avoid outages.”

To schedule a controlled disconnection of power call 299-2800 or e-mail treetrimming@belco.bm.