Clark Public Utilities works onerous 12 months spherical to supply dependable and inexpensive energy, however regardless of our greatest efforts, there are occasional outages.
From now by March, the most important storms of the 12 months sometimes hit the Pacific Northwest. However the climate itself is never the reason for an influence outage – largely it’s the bushes or branches that can’t stand up to the storm.
“Bushes and branches trigger greater than half of all failures that our prospects expertise,” says Paul Wienecke, head of forest administration at Clark Public Utilities. “It is a part of what the territory brings with dwelling so near nature. However we’re nonetheless working onerous to scale back downtime, and our prospects are an enormous a part of that. “
Wienecke manages the utility’s vegetation administration program, which displays, trims, and infrequently removes vegetation alongside greater than 1,500 miles of energy strains throughout Clark County. The utility has a proactive however environmentally aware method to its vegetation administration program.
The journeyman’s trimmers employed by the utility are a choose group of expert arborists who’re certified to chop round excessive voltage strains the place precision cuts are important. Every receives over 40 hours of coaching in security and correct pruning methods yearly to maximise public security and preserve the well being of the tree.
When achieved proper, each lower retains the branches a protected distance from overhead strains whereas additionally making certain that the tree continues to develop wholesome, robust and durable.
This meticulous method has earned Clark Public Utilities the dignity of being a Tree Line USA Utility by the Arbor Day Basis for 22 consecutive years.
This dedication to public security and proper modifying methods ensures that Clark Public Utilities prospects expertise fewer and considerably shorter downtimes than many different individuals within the nation. In accordance with 2018 knowledge from the American Public Energy Affiliation, the typical outage in Clark County is simply 35 minutes, in comparison with the nationwide common of 329 minutes.
“However we’re always in search of methods to enhance our efficiency,” mentioned Wienecke. “We lately carried out some pilot research of drone pictures and lidar mapping to research extra exact and cost-effective methods for managing our operations.”
Irrespective of how superior the instruments are, buyer experiences are all the time among the many most beneficial. We often reply to buyer inquiries about bushes that pose a risk to our electrical energy system. These experiences are taken very significantly and all trimming associated to main energy strains is finished freed from cost.
Prospects involved {that a} tree might have an effect on energy strains ought to name the utility firm’s customer support division at 360-992-3000. The consultant asks a collection of questions and examines the request. Prospects may report the tree to ClarkPublicUtilities.com by trying to find “Request Tree Pruning”. It solely takes a couple of minutes to fill out the shape. A utility worker can contact you if extra info is required.
“Our precept is to answer reducing inquiries inside seven working days,” mentioned Wienecke. “We’ll conduct a web site evaluation shortly after receiving the report, which is able to enable us to resolve how greatest to proceed and, if essential, to schedule a tree reducing crew.”
Power Adviser was written by Clark Public Utilities. Ship inquiries to ecod@clarkpud.com or Power Adviser, c / o Clark Public Utilities, PO Field 8900, Vancouver, WA 98668.
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