Tree Trimming

Owensboro Municipal Utilities is committed to providing reliable, low-cost electric service to our community. To keep that promise, we must reduce electrical outages caused by trees interfering with electric lines. Thus, we have a program to remove trees growing under or near the primary electric lines within our service area.

OMU hopes for your cooperation so that we can deliver safe and reliable power. We recognize that we must educate our customers about the placement and types of trees or shrubs in relation to power lines and utility equipment.

Trees planted under or near power lines and utility equipment eventually become a high-risk situation for creating outages. Outages in turn cause safety issues and additional operational expenses.

OMU encourages you to be aware of utility easements on your property and to avoid planting anything that may interfere with the electrical lines or cause a hazard for employees working in that easement.

Further, a city ordinance prohibits the planting of large trees under utility lines.

City of Owensboro Ordinance 76-99 regulates the kind, location and amount of trees or other landscaping that may be planted on public property and right-of-way.

In summary, the ordinance prohibits the planting of trees under utility lines that will grow and interfere with lines and prohibits planting shrubs around underground facilities, including pad-mount transformers.

To learn more, we invite you to download a copy of Ordinance 76-99.

Understanding the proper and safe placement of trees and shrubs is important in ensuring you receive reliable service.

For more information about our tree trimming program or to learn more about the proper placement of trees and shrubs, please contact us.

For information about the proper planting of trees and bushes, please visit the National Arbor Day Foundation’s website at arborday.org.

OMU is proud to be a Tree Line USA Utility.