Met-Ed 2019 tree trimming program underway in Central PA

Local energy provider Met-Ed has begun its annual tree trimming operations across Central Pennsylvania.

Met-Ed has approximately 59,000 customers in Lebanon County.

Tree trimming is a proactive measure to prevent tree-caused outages that can arise with severe weather, such as February’s wind-related outages. According to a release, since the beginning of the year, tree contractors have trimmed more than 630 miles of distribution and transmission lines as part of a $23 million annual vegetation management budget. An additional 2,500 miles are expected to be completed by year end.

In addition to normal tree trimming work, crews will be targeting ash trees impacted by the Emerald Ash Borer. According to the release, Met-Ed has budgeted $2 million specifically to remove more than 8,000 dead and dying ash trees along distribution lines in its service areas across southeast Pennsylvania.

Tree trimming is being conducted by the following companies: Aerial Solutions, Asplundh Tree Expert Company, Davey Tree Expert Company, Lewis Tree Service, Nelson Tree Service Inc., Rotor Blade, Treesmiths, and York Tree Service Inc.

In addition to Lebanon, Met-Ed is also trimming trees in Easton, Gettysburg, Hamburg, Hanover, Reading, Stroudsburg, York, and Bucks County.

Met-Ed is one of several companies operated by First Energy in Pennsylvania.