Tree Touching Power Lines: Who Removes It

Call your electric utility first, not a tree service

Call your electric utility first. In Iowa, the utility owns and maintains the wires, and its line clearance crews handle anything touching or growing into the lines, usually at no cost to you. A tree service cannot legally or safely take a limb off an energized conductor. Only the utility can de-energize or work around the line.

In Des Moines, that means MidAmerican Energy for most properties inside the city, and your rural electric cooperative if you sit outside the metro on co-op lines. The number is on your bill and on the utility's outage page. Before you call anyone else, call that number and describe the tree: what it is touching, how close it is, and whether it is on your property or the strip between the sidewalk and the curb.

That one call sorts out most of the confusion. The utility decides whether the situation is a hazard it clears, routine maintenance it schedules, or a private tree it will not touch. You will get a straighter answer from the utility than from any crew you might call first.

What the utility will clear and what it will not

The utility clears the line, not the tree. Its crews cut what is growing into or touching the conductor and leave the rest of the tree standing. They are not removing your tree, and they are not cleaning up your yard.

What they handle:

• Limbs and branches in contact with the wires or close enough to arc.
• Branches growing into the clearance zone around the line.
• Trees that have fallen across the line or are leaning into it.
• Brush and limbs that block access to the poles and wires.

What they leave to you:

• The trunk and any part of the tree not touching the line.
• Stumps and root systems.
• Debris from a tree you own, including the cut limbs once they are on the ground.
• Any tree on your property that is not a hazard to the line.

If the tree is dead, leaning hard, or splitting, say so when you call. A dead tree near a conductor is a different job than a live one, and the utility needs to know what its crew is walking up to.

When the tree is yours to remove

You own the tree removal when the trunk is on your property and the tree is not in contact with the line. The utility clears the wire; you deal with the tree. That split is the whole answer to most calls.

The part that surprises people: the utility may cut limbs off your tree to clear the line and leave the tree standing, and that is within its rights. The line comes first. If the tree then looks lopsided or has a wound where a limb was removed, that is a tree-health question, not a utility question.

If you want the whole tree gone, that is a private removal. It is also the job where a tree service belongs, because the tree is no longer touching an energized conductor and the work is ordinary tree work: climbing, rigging, cutting, chipping, hauling. The one thing a tree service will not do is take a limb off a live line. If the tree is still in contact when the crew arrives, they stop and the utility gets called again.

The utility clears the wire. The tree is yours.

What makes a tree near a line harder to remove

Proximity to the conductor drives the difficulty, and difficulty drives the plan, not a price you can predict from the driveway. A tree that is ten feet from the line and a tree that is brushing it are two different jobs even if they look the same size.

What changes the work:

• Contact with the line. Any contact means the utility has to be involved before a saw goes near it.
• Lean and decay. A leaning or hollow trunk can fail during the cut, and the crew has to rig it down in pieces instead of dropping it.
• Drop zone. A tree with a clear fall path is faster than one over a roof, a fence, a driveway, or a second tree.
• Access. A bucket truck needs a clear approach. A backyard tree may mean climbing and rigging by hand.
• Size and species. A mature oak runs 60 to 80 feet tall, and the height changes how the tree is taken down.

None of that is a number you can get over the phone. The number comes from someone standing under the tree looking up. What you can do before that visit is walk the property and note what is under the tree and where the line runs, so the conversation starts in the right place.

How the job actually runs, from call to clean yard

Most removals near a line follow the same order, and knowing it tells you what to expect and what to ask.

1. You call the utility. Describe the tree and the contact. The utility decides whether it clears the line or tells you the tree is private.
2. You call a tree service for the tree itself. Explain that the utility has been notified and what the utility said. That single detail shapes the whole job.
3. Someone looks at the tree. The removal is planned on site: fall direction, rigging, drop zone, access, and whether the utility needs to be on hand.
4. The line is dealt with. If the tree is still in contact, the utility clears or de-energizes before any cutting starts.
5. The tree comes down. In pieces if it is near the line or over a structure, in one drop if the fall path is clear.
6. Debris is handled. Limbs are chipped and hauled, and the trunk is cut to lengths or left as agreed.
7. The stump is a separate question. Grinding is its own step, and it is worth asking about it before the crew arrives rather than after.

The utility step is not optional and it is not something a tree service can do for you. Get it out of the way first, then the rest of the job is ordinary tree work.

What to ask before anyone cuts

Ask these questions before the first cut, and you will know what you are getting.

• Has the utility been contacted, and what did it say about the line?
• How will the tree be taken down: dropped, or rigged in pieces?
• What is the drop zone, and what is under it?
• Is the stump included, or is grinding a separate step?
• What happens to the wood and the chips?
• What does the quote cover, and what would change it?

Ask for the quote in writing. The number depends on the tree, the line, the drop zone, and the access, and the only way to get it right is to look at the tree. If a figure is given before anyone has seen it, treat that as a starting point and ask what would move it.

If the tree is touching a line right now, the next step is the utility, not a tree service. Call the utility, get its answer, then call us at the number on this page to take the tree from there.