Skip to main content
Home
online bill pay SmartHub (Bill Pay)
lightning bolt Outage Center
Live Chat

Search form

Menu
  • Home
  • My Account
    • SmartHub
    • About SmartHub
    • SmartHub One-Time Bill Pay
    • Pay Invoices
    • Payment Options
    • Disconnection Policy
    • Filing For An Extension
    • Utility Bill Assistance
    • Rates
    • Billing Cycles
  • Member Benefits
    • Bylaws
    • Refund of Capital Credits
    • Your Co-op, Your Vote
    • Annual Meeting
    • Energy Programs & Rebates
    • Rural Missouri
  • Services
    • Service Requests
    • Dusk to Dawn Lights
    • Viasat™ Satellite Internet
    • Right-of-Way Management
    • Engineering
      • New Service
      • Meter Base
      • Call Before You Dig
      • Underground Utilities
      • Easements
    • Medical Alert
    • BCRSD - Sewer District
  • Community
    • Boone Electric Community Trust
    • Operation Round Up
    • Youth Leadership
    • Scholarships
    • Night at the Ballgame & Theater
    • Energy in Today's Classroom
    • BEC Event Calendar
    • Revolving Loan Fund
    • Green Tree Partnership
  • Education
    • Outage Tips
    • Energy Education for Schools
    • Space Heater 101
    • Generator Safety
    • IREC Solar Panel Safety
    • First Responder/Media Safety
    • Downed Line Safety
    • Seasonal Savings TIps
    • Surge Protection
  • Energy Solutions
    • Take Control & Save®
    • Energy Efficiency Review
    • Ground Source Heat Pumps
    • Dual Fuel
    • CMCA Weatherization
    • Renewable Energy
      • Renewable Choice
      • Community Solar
      • Renewable Choice Calculator
    • Renewables for Home & Business
    • Energy Usage
    • Electric Vehicles
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Employment
    • Member Bylaws
    • Board of Directors
    • History of Boone Electric
    • Our Service Area
    • Department Managers
    • Co-op Links
    • Our Power Supply
    • Mission Statement
  • Future Building

Right-of-Way Information

Right-of-Way

Boone Electric Cooperative’s primary goal is to provide safe, reliable power to our members. To succeed at that goal, the cooperative maintains an aggressive Right-of-Way program.

The cooperative maintains nearly 3,000 miles of distribution line (including nearly 2,000 overhead miles) to ensure our service reliability. Two BEC crews and up to 10 contract crews make their way along the distribution lines, trimming trees back a reasonable distance. Crew members clear the right of way in a variety of ways, using the safest and most efficient method. They climb trees and trim limbs with a chainsaw, use the chainsaw from the bucket truck, or attach a hand saw to a long pole for hard-to-reach limbs. They also use brush mowers and other ground-moving equipment to clear the area beneath the power lines.

Crews at Work

The tree trimming crews each work a circuit around Boone Electric’s service territory. The Right-of-Way Department’s goal is to clear the rights of way near all of the co-op’s distribution lines in a five-year rotation. By the time the crews return to areas trimmed just a few years prior, new saplings have grown and new limbs sprouted. The tree trimming work is never ending.

In the early summer, crews spray an environmentally safe herbicide to help clear new growth under the power lines.

The cooperative informs landowners before applying the herbicide, which is safe to animals and humans. A low-volume spray is also aimed directly at tree saplings.

Contract Crews

BEC contracts crews from several outside tree trimming businesses to help maintain cooperative rights of way. Each of these crews will have a sign on their truck, signifying them as a contract crew.

Arkansas Electric
Burbridge
Hentges
VMAC

Tree Replacement

Taller-growing trees planted too close to power lines can increase the cooperative’s maintenance costs. View a diagram of the proper planting areas for trees around your home.

If we remove a yard tree that is interfering with power lines, we may replace the tree for free with a shorter-growing species. Members can choose from several species of trees or bushes. A local nursery contractor will then plant the new species a safe distance from power lines.

To report a tree that may be interfering with a power line, call Boone Electric Cooperative at 449-4181 and ask for the Right-of-Way Department.

Trees and Power Lines

Larger trees that are planted around utility easements create a potentially dangerous safety hazard by providing children an opportunity to play near power lines. When a tree limb comes in contact with a power line, there is a definite possibility of shock injury to a child or adult touching or climbing the tree.

Large-growing trees located in easement areas also increase the chance of an outage (or blinking lights) as well as increase the amount of time it will take to correct that outage by preventing equipment access and reducing visibility.

If our maintenance crews can't see down the right-of-way, they must hunt among the branches to locate the problem, which is extremely time-consuming and dangerous.

Trees near power lines increase Boone Electric's maintenance costs.

Right-of-Way Examples

Correctly cleared right-of-way.

Snow weighs down trees until they touch power lines

Keep area around pad mounted transformer clear

More info
Previous Next
Back to Top

Quick Links

  • Outage Center
  • SmartHub
  • Contact Us
  • Employment

©2021 Boone Electric Cooperative. All Rights Reserved.

  • Home
  • My Account
    • SmartHub
    • About SmartHub
    • SmartHub One-Time Bill Pay
    • Pay Invoices
    • Payment Options
    • Disconnection Policy
    • Filing For An Extension
    • Utility Bill Assistance
    • Rates
    • Billing Cycles
  • Member Benefits
    • Bylaws
    • Refund of Capital Credits
    • Your Co-op, Your Vote
    • Annual Meeting
    • Energy Programs & Rebates
    • Rural Missouri
  • Services
    • Service Requests
    • Dusk to Dawn Lights
    • Viasat™ Satellite Internet
    • Right-of-Way Management
    • Engineering
      • New Service
      • Meter Base
      • Call Before You Dig
      • Underground Utilities
      • Easements
    • Medical Alert
    • BCRSD - Sewer District
  • Community
    • Boone Electric Community Trust
    • Operation Round Up
    • Youth Leadership
    • Scholarships
    • Night at the Ballgame & Theater
    • Energy in Today's Classroom
    • BEC Event Calendar
    • Revolving Loan Fund
    • Green Tree Partnership
  • Education
    • Outage Tips
    • Energy Education for Schools
    • Space Heater 101
    • Generator Safety
    • IREC Solar Panel Safety
    • First Responder/Media Safety
    • Downed Line Safety
    • Seasonal Savings TIps
    • Surge Protection
  • Energy Solutions
    • Take Control & Save®
    • Energy Efficiency Review
    • Ground Source Heat Pumps
    • Dual Fuel
    • CMCA Weatherization
    • Renewable Energy
      • Renewable Choice
      • Community Solar
      • Renewable Choice Calculator
    • Renewables for Home & Business
    • Energy Usage
    • Electric Vehicles
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Employment
    • Member Bylaws
    • Board of Directors
    • History of Boone Electric
    • Our Service Area
    • Department Managers
    • Co-op Links
    • Our Power Supply
    • Mission Statement
  • Future Building