Seattle City Light tree trimming near power lines

Where City Light trims

Seattle City Light is the city-owned utility for Seattle and, in its words, neighboring suburbs. It covers 131 square miles and over 503,000 customer premises, 419,601 of them residential. The suburb list is not printed on the pages checked (not stated); if your electric bill comes from the City of Seattle, this page applies. King County addresses billed by PSE belong on the Puget Sound Energy tree trimming page, and the utilities index covers the rest of the region.

What City Light trims and how often

City Light prunes around its distribution and transmission lines, utility poles, transformers, underground vaults and meters, using certified arborists and line-clearance crews. Trees are trimmed on a 4.5-year pruning cycle. Before planned work a crew member visits; if nobody is home they leave a door hanger with the trimming and contact details. City Light does not prune trees off privately owned communication and cable lines.

Crews remove the limbs and debris they create. Logs are usually cut into firewood lengths and left beside the right-of-way, so plan on moving or hauling the rounds yourself.

Clearance distances

City Light states its targets by line type and by how fast the species grows.

The service line to your house

The service line is the wire from the pole to your house. City Light prunes vegetation off it for the first 10 ft from where it connects at the pole. Maintaining clearance after that first 10 ft is the property owner’s responsibility, in City Light’s own words. So the maple limb resting on the drop halfway to your roof is your job.

City Light helps two ways: it assesses trees for electrical hazards and may do a free make-ready pruning if appropriate, and it provides a 24-hour power disconnect so a private crew can work on the line safely. Ask through the vegetation team before booking anyone. How a crew sequences that job is covered on our tree removal near power lines page.

How to request trimming

For a non-emergency tree problem, use City Light’s online vegetation request portal or the Find It, Fix It app. You can also call (206) 684-3000 or email SCLVegetation@seattle.gov. Trees that are not near a line are ordinary tree trimming at your cost; the tree trimming cost page has modeled Seattle-area ranges.

A tree touching a line right now

City Light’s instruction is specific: for a downed line, a broken limb on a line, or trees in the lines making them droop or spark, call 911 and stay at least 30 ft away. Do not let anyone cut, pull or push the tree. Report the outage separately at (206) 684-3000 if your power is out.

A private crew cannot start until City Light has de-energized or cleared the line. What happens next, including a tree that came down on the house, is on our emergency tree service page.

Who may work within 10 ft of a line

City Light’s 3 ft and 5 ft service-line targets sit inside that 10 ft zone, so the disconnect is not optional for a private crew. A Seattle tree service should either work with the power off or send a line-clearance crew. Check the company’s L&I registration first with our Washington tree service license lookup guide.

Planting under City Light lines

City Light’s planting advice: select trees with a maximum mature height of 25 ft near power lines, never plant under high-voltage transmission lines, and keep 3 ft of clearance around poles. Vault lids and meters must stay accessible. Its list of plants to avoid includes English laurel, hazelnut, Leyland cypress and pyramidal arborvitae, all of which pass 25 ft, and English ivy, which shorts out equipment. The Right Tree Book PDF carries the species list.