OREANDA-NEWS. Southern Electric Power Distribution has carried out the biggest one-day tree-cutting programme ever undertaken in its history in a bid to reduce power cuts in West Sussex.

More than 200 tree-cutters, linesmen, engineers and specialist contractors worked on the electricity network in the villages of Milland, Redford and Linch on Tuesday, covering an area the size of 30 football pitches.

Over the past year there has been nine separate power cuts in the villages, caused by trees coming into contact with the overhead lines, and so the work carried out on Tuesday was an essential part of SEPD’s commitment to keeping the lights on for the local community. As well as the tree-cutting, teams of engineers also installed new automated technology that will further minimise the risk of a power cut.

Chris Anderson, Tree Cutting Field Manager, was in charge of the operation and says the work was a crucial preventative measure to reduce power cuts in the area. “This is a beautiful part of the country, however the trees which are such a large part of the local character also have the potential to damage our overhead lines and cause power cuts. This job is essential if we are to make the local network as robust and resilient as possible. We took the look and feel of the area into account when we were planning the cutting, and we only removed vegetation and dead trees if they posed a significant threat to the network, or if they were in falling distance of a line.”

Chris explained the logistical challenges of planning the company’s largest ever one-day job: “Because the area we were going to be covering was so large, this one-day programme was months in the planning. We had to seek permission from over 20 landowners to get access to their land and cut the trees, and at times it was like a game of 3D chess getting everything to fit into place on one specific date! By working on such a grand scale we have not only minimised the risk of a power cut during high winds, we have also reduced the number of planned outages that would have been needed to get the same work done in smaller stages over several days.”

Mains electricity to the three villages had to be switched off between 8am and 6pm so that the work could be carried out safely, and power was supplied through temporary generators where it was technically possible. Where temporary generators could not be connected to the local network, a welfare van was made available by SEPD, providing free hot food and drinks, and charging facilities for mobile phones and computers. Where vulnerable customers were unable to come to the welfare van, SEPD’s customer services team delivered food to them.

Lucy Anderson, Customer Liaison Manager, was tasked with making sure that the local community was kept informed of the work that was to be done, especially the customers on SEPD’s Priority Service Register. “Communication is vital when we have to turn off the power to carry out this sort of work, and as soon as we had the date and times confirmed for the job, we set about letting the local communities know what was going to be happening. We put information on the community notice boards, we worked with the local village magazine to get a front page article ahead of the work, and my colleagues and I went to every single property that was going to be affected so that they knew what was going to happen, and crucially, if there was anything our company could do to help when the power was off.”

This was the largest ever one-day planned shutdown that SEPD has ever carried out, and to date the feedback from our customers has been very positive. But we won’t be resting on our laurels. We’ll be taking the lessons we’ve learned in Milland, Redford and Linch to ensure that all our planned shutdowns in the future are carried out to the same high standards, and our customers are kept as informed as possible at all times.