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Centerpoint emergency tree trimming

3,020 Views | 25 Replies | Last: 7 mo ago by BigTex83
Cibalo
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8:39p, 6/11/25
The storm today knocked out power for about 10 hours. Around 330 today a tree service company knocked on my door and said they were going to trim back my trees from the power lines on center points request. They said this was emergency trimming so they are only cutting but not hauling away.
They cut so much unnecessary branches off my trees, especially since I just had trimming done the week before. Now I have a backyard full of branches.
Am I responsible for dealing with them or is this CenterPoints responsibility? Anyone had to deal with this before?


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ccolley68
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11:15p, 6/11/25
AG
Not trying to be the CenterPoint apologist, because they do suck, but I will stick up for the people at an operational level. I would think they will come and get them. If it was emergency cutting, I could see them taking the approach of just go cut and don't delay with haul off, we'll come back behind and do the pick up. For reference, the one time we had to deal with them coming in to work on the telephone pole in our back yard, they were great. They took our fence apart carefully and laid down mats on the grass to run their equipment over so they didn't ruin our yard. Had a supervisor on site the whole time. Once they were done cleaned up and reassembled our fence and it was back like nothing happened. The guys and gals doing the nuts and bolts for CenterPoint are solid people.

The leadership of CenterPoint on the other hand, are epic fails.
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Cibalo
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In reply to ccolley68 • 8:32a, 6/12/25
In this case they outsourced it to a 3rd party trimming service. It wasn't CP directly doing the cutting. No mention of we are just cutting it and will come back later to haul it off. Just we are cutting it, where it falls it falls and we aren't going to do anything with it.
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rilloaggie
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8:40a, 6/12/25
AG
I've never dealt with the emergency part of the situation but I have lines in my yard and a large tree that gets butchered every 3-4 years by centerpoint. It ends up looking like a 90' tall bonsai the way they cut it completely flat on the side nearest the lines. They'll come pick up the branches in a day or two in my experience.
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Charlie Murphy
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8:42a, 6/12/25
Strange. How do they identify which areas need to be trimmed that immediately?
Welcome to the China Club

"Here's the pitch...POPPED it up! Oh man, that wouldn't be a home run in a phone booth."
-Harry Carey
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Cibalo
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In reply to Charlie Murphy • 11:25a, 6/12/25
Power outage in my area that CP determined was caused by tree branches on the power lines.
The lines run along the back fence between homes. They came into people's backyards and just chopped away. About 1 hr after they were done power was restored.
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BCOBQ98
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2:49p, 6/12/25
AG
Sucks but that looks like 1-2 hours of work and a couple of beers to clean up. Not a huge deal
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Cibalo
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7:13p, 6/13/25
Talked to CenterPoint and they told me they have the right to go onto your property in an emergency power outage and do whatever is necessary. I tried to explain i had just had the tree trimmed last week and they were clear of the lines, so if anything it should have been minor trimming. Not the full chop job they did including dropping some large branches and breaking my 10' tree about 3' from the ground.
Basically told me to pound sand and that it is the homeowners responsibility to clear any debris from trimming.

**** those *****es.

Took me 4hr to clear it out and move it to the street. Phone said 17k steps doing it as well.
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grimace07
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7:34p, 6/13/25
AG
Had this happen to me about ten years ago … you're not alone. Same exact thing - one week after we had trees trimmed, CP came through and took them down further; looked horrendous. They did it again last week when a transformer blew.

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Astroag
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5:58p, 6/15/25
AG
For professional tree services they hire, they do an awful job. No regard for the tree or necessary branches. Just absolute Hachet jobs as fast as possible but they did come back with a chipper and disposed of them
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Pilmer
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7:59p, 6/15/25
AG
They did this on our block after the last big storm.
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Cibalo
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8:15p, 6/15/25
It's a ****ing shame. CP is a damn monopoly and needs to be taken down.
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htxag09
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8:57p, 6/15/25
AG
To play devils advocate, wth do we want them to do when people/developers insist on continuing to plant trees directly under power lines?
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Ag_07
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9:04a, 6/16/25
AG
Classic TexAgs here.

Usually we're all bltching because CP doesn't trim enough and doesn't do a good enough job of maintaining vegetation along their lines.

Now we're bltching because they're trimming too much.
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redag06
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In reply to htxag09 • 9:53a, 6/16/25
htxag09 said:
To play devils advocate, wth do we want them to do when people/developers insist on continuing to plant trees directly under power lines?
THIS!!!!

Stop putting trees in CNP's easement! It leads to power outages, it leads to ugly trees, its just stupid!
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redag06
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In reply to Astroag • 9:55a, 6/16/25
Astroag said:
For professional tree services they hire, they do an awful job. No regard for the tree or necessary branches. Just absolute Hachet jobs as fast as possible but they did come back with a chipper and disposed of them
What they SHOULD do is just cut the entire tree down, since most of the trees are in their easement. But, people would throw a fit.
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Astroag
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In reply to redag06 • 9:59a, 6/16/25
AG
redag06 said:
Astroag said:
For professional tree services they hire, they do an awful job. No regard for the tree or necessary branches. Just absolute Hachet jobs as fast as possible but they did come back with a chipper and disposed of them
What they SHOULD do is just cut the entire tree down, since most of the trees are in their easement. But, people would throw a fit.


Yeah let's use a cannon to kill mosquitos…makes perfect sense
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If ya ain't cheatin, you ain't tryin!!!
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grimace07
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In reply to redag06 • 12:37p, 6/16/25
AG
I'm strangely okay with this.
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redag06
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In reply to grimace07 • 3:14p, 6/16/25
grimace07 said:
I'm strangely okay with this.
Want them to stop having their rates go up?

Let them take the ENTIRE tree in THEIR easement. Then they don't have the O&M costs to trim them, less outages, etc. etc.
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grimace07
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In reply to redag06 • 7:20p, 6/16/25
AG
redag06 said:
grimace07 said:
I'm strangely okay with this.
Want them to stop having their rates go up?

Let them take the ENTIRE tree in THEIR easement. Then they don't have the O&M costs to trim them, less outages, etc. etc.


You're not wrong. I'm also curious how big these trees were when the lines were installed. I'm sure if you go back to the HL&P days, some were just saplings and posed no threat to the lines. Now 40 to 50 years later, it's a maintenance nightmare. Or I could be wildly wrong.
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texagbeliever
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In reply to Ag_07 • 7:34p, 6/16/25
Ag_07 said:
Classic TexAgs here.

Usually we're all bltching because CP doesn't trim enough and doesn't do a good enough job of maintaining vegetation along their lines.

Now we're bltching because they're trimming too much.

I remember calling this in the last thread.
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Astroag
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In reply to grimace07 • 7:48p, 6/16/25
AG
grimace07 said:
redag06 said:
grimace07 said:
I'm strangely okay with this.
Want them to stop having their rates go up?

Let them take the ENTIRE tree in THEIR easement. Then they don't have the O&M costs to trim them, less outages, etc. etc.


You're not wrong. I'm also curious how big these trees were when the lines were installed. I'm sure if you go back to the HL&P days, some were just saplings and posed no threat to the lines. Now 40 to 50 years later, it's a maintenance nightmare. Or I could be wildly wrong.


It's only a nightmare bc they ignored regular maintenance of their lines for over a decade to increase their bottom line
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If ya ain't cheatin, you ain't tryin!!!
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SnowboardAg
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8:08p, 6/16/25
AG
Unrelated to trees, but CP is absolute garbage. I'm convinced they're more concerned with shareholders than customers. Every outage I file a complaint with both the PUC and Gov Abbotts office. Probably won't change anything, but I feel better. I'm absolutely convinced they leave people in the dark to minimize overtime cost. In your next outage, just take note of it. Track it and file complaints.
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redag06
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In reply to SnowboardAg • 7:07a, 6/17/25
Their bonuses are based on outage times for corporate folks.

CNP Linemen don't care about being fast when they are making what they make hourly.
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AlaskanAg99
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7:46a, 6/17/25
AG
With all the wind we have had recently, not a single outage. 2 years ago we'd have lost power.

It is unfortunate, but any tree with roots in the easement should be eliminated. Those with branches in should be cut back to the easement lines. It sucks. But it is their easement and continuous power is more important than your yard esthetics.

Also, any tree tall enough to be filled into the lines should be topped.

As far as cleanup, couldn't care less if they shaft the homeowner.
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BigTex83
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In reply to redag06 • 10:46a, 6/17/25
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