Tacoma Power tree trimming near power lines

Where Tacoma Power trims

Tacoma Power, part of Tacoma Public Utilities, serves Tacoma, Fircrest, University Place and Fife, parts of Steilacoom and Lakewood, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and unincorporated Pierce County as far south as Roy. Pierce County addresses outside that footprint are served by PSE in parts of the county (see Puget Sound Energy tree trimming) or by Peninsula Light on the Gig Harbor and Key peninsulas; the utilities index has the full list.

What Tacoma Power trims and how often

Crews maintain clearances on all the transmission and distribution circuits Tacoma Power operates. Each circuit is inspected and trimmed on a four-year cycle, so a given street sees a crew about every four years unless a problem is reported sooner.

The vegetation policy favors removal over repeat pruning: trees that will pose a continual maintenance problem or hazard to the lines are removed when possible, and a tree likely to grow back into the clearance within three years of trimming is a candidate for replacement. Danger trees, those within falling distance of a line and posing imminent danger, are identified and the owner notified. The policy does not state whether the work is free or whether wood is hauled away (not stated).

Clearance distances

Tacoma Power’s overhead vegetation policy sets clearances by voltage.

The service wire to your house

The policy is explicit: low-voltage service conductors that run to the customer’s weatherhead on their property are to be trimmed by the customer or their contractor. The 3 to 5 ft low-voltage figure in the table is the policy’s target for that class of wire. Tacoma Power’s outage page does not describe a temporary disconnect program for private tree work (not stated); call 253-502-8729 and ask before any work near the wire.

Because 3 to 5 ft is well inside the 10 ft safety zone described below, a general tree service should not be reaching in there with saws while the wire is live. Our tree removal near power lines page explains how a crew sequences that job with the utility.

How to request trimming

For questions about tree clearances, tree removal near lines or related problems, Tacoma Power’s number is 253-502-8729. There is no online request form on the page checked (not found), and no published response-time target (not stated). Trees nowhere near a line are ordinary tree trimming at your cost; the tree trimming cost page has the modeled Washington ranges.

A tree touching a line right now

Treat the tree and the ground around it as energized. Tacoma Power’s rule for a downed line is to stay away, never touch or approach it, and call 911; if a line falls on your car, call for help and stay inside. Report a broken line, broken pole or outage at 253-502-8602. Do not let anyone cut, pull or push the tree.

A crew can start only after Tacoma Power has de-energized or cleared the line. What happens next, including a tree on the roof, is on our emergency tree service page.

Who may work within 10 ft of a line

A Tacoma or University Place tree service can take down everything outside that zone; the part inside it waits for Tacoma Power or a line-clearance contractor. Check the company’s L&I registration first with our Washington tree service license lookup guide.

Planting under Tacoma Power lines

Tacoma Power asks anyone planting a tree under a power line along the street to use its list of recommended species, but the page checked names no species and no height limit, and the list itself was not found (not found). The policy’s own logic is the practical guide: anything that will need pruning again within three years, or that will reach the 10 ft distribution clearance at maturity, is a tree the utility would rather remove than prune, so plant something that tops out well below the wires.