In an effort to be responsive to customer comment and concerns involving its tree trimming plans, practices and procedures, Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) is proposing a series of enhancements to its reliability program.
 
Since implementing its Reliability Enhancement Plan in January of this year, PSO has dramatically reduced tree-related power outages in areas where the plan has been worked.  Outages have been reduced 50 percent or more in those areas where the program has been implemented.
 
Based on experience with the program and customer input, PSO is proposing additions to the program to address concerns over tree trimming and questions about the possibility of burying existing overhead power lines.  An initial proposal has been sent to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission for review and comment.
           
“We’re already working on significant enhancements to our tree program by requiring more training for tree crews, additional supervision of those crews and improved customer communication,” said Stuart Solomon, PSO president and chief operating officer.  “We also want to work directly with customers on any specific issues that may come up.  Still, we’re interested in seeing what more can be done to strike the right balance between caring for our urban forest and providing reliable electric service to all our customers.”
           
Solomon says details of additional plan enhancements will be shared after the OCC and Tulsa mayor Bill LaFortune have had ample opportunity to review those details and have communicated back to PSO their thoughts and ideas.
           
“We would hope to have something to share with customers within the next 10 days to two weeks,” said Solomon.
             
Along with enhancements to its tree program, PSO also has initiated its first ever demonstration project to bury existing overhead power lines in a residential neighborhood.  That project, in Tulsa’s Regency Park West addition, is approximately two months from completion.  PSO plans to begin a second demonstration line burial project in northwest Tulsa in the coming weeks.
 
PSO, a unit of American Electric Power, is an electric utility company serving approximately 511,000 customers in eastern and southwestern Oklahoma.  Based in Tulsa, PSO has more than 4,000 megawatts of generating capacity and offers some of the lowest energy prices in the United States.