About the program

Maintaining safe, reliable power

The beauty of the Puget Sound area is tied to its lush, abundant trees. However, trees that grow into or near power lines can cause concern. During storms, limbs and branches can become entangled with or bring down power lines, causing outages and safety hazards.

About 2,000 power outages per year can be traced back to trees. That's why PSE commits more than $12 million annually toward tree maintenance. Learn more about our program in this short video.


Trimming for safety and tree health

We make every effort to let trees grow naturally, but trees and branches within a 12-foot radius of power lines typically need to be addressed by trimming or removal. For "at-risk" trees outside this radius and on private property, our certified arborists work with communities and property owners to trim or remove these potentially dangerous trees.


Learn more with these brochures:


Tree maintenance program highlights

  • Our crews trim identified limbs that may cause safety or outage problems
  • To offset tree removal and trimming, we devote about $500,000 each year to planting new trees
  • PSE is a Tree Line USA award recipient from the National Arbor Day Foundation – an honor we have proudly held for more than 18 consecutive years

 

Tree trimming
YouTube Video