Before planting this spring, be sure to consider your surroundings
When planting around your yard, be sure to consider how trees, shrubs, and gardens may impact your electrical service and equipment. Checkout the tips below before grabbing that shovel!

• Be sure to call 811 a few days before doing any digging. Some utilities aren't buried as deep as you'd think. 811 will come and mark your underground utilities for free, so you can avoid danger when planting.
• Consider your tree's mature height when planting. If your tree will be more than 25 feet tall when fully mature, plant it 40-60 feet away from power lines to avoid contact and maintenance. 
• Avoid placing or leaning anything against your yard's big green box, also known as a pad-mount transformer. Although pad-mounted transformers have an outer casing around them, they lack the innate security of distance that pole-top transformers and overhead power lines offer.
• Avoid planting bushes or trees with hard, woody stalks within 8 feet of pad-mounted transformers. Line crews need to access internal components of these transformers to restore power in the case of an outage. 
• Despite their appearance, do not place artificial boulders or small fences around your pad-mounted transformer. Disguising your transformer makes restoring power take longer.

If you have any questions about planting around your home or business and electricity, please call our office or visit our website at
www.hendrickspower.com.