6 Signs Your Vegetation Management Program Alone Isn’t Cutting It

Utilities across the country pour nearly $7 billion into vegetation management every year, yet temporary faults still plague their systems. Tree-trimming crews work year-round to maintain clearances, but even the best programs can't prevent every piece of storm debris and wind-whipped tree branches from hitting lines and causing outages.

That's where many utilities are leveraging an innovative solution. They're adding lateral automation devices to their overhead distribution systems. These devices clear temporary faults automatically, working alongside their existing utility vegetation management (UVM) programs to stop minor issues from becoming major interruptions.

Is Your UVM Strategy Missing Something? A Quick Reality Check

• Your vegetation management budget keeps growing but outages persist. You're spending an estimated $3,850 per mile each year on tree work, but those vegetation-related outages from high winds and storms keep happening anyway. It's frustrating when the utility industry collectively loses $18 to $33 billion annually to these disruptions, and you're doing everything "right" with your vegetation program.
• Storm season brings a familiar pattern of customer complaints. Every storm season, it's the same story: Despite all that hard trimming work, debris still finds a way to hit your lines and knock out customers. Even trees you trimmed last season can cause problems when winds send branches flying into conductors.
• Vegetation management itself is an increasingly complex challenge. It’s a critical, yet ongoing need. Weather-driven rapid regrowth, disease, and other factors can complicate time-based tree-trimming schedules. New hot spots emerge constantly, while delayed approvals slow your ability to respond.
• You're facing escalating regulatory pressure. Regulators are raising the bar for reliability. New mandates target outage duration, performance, and infrastructure hardening for weather. Vegetation management alone can’t close all those reliability gaps to be compliant.
• Your crews spend most of their time on distribution laterals. Here's the reality: Most outages happen on the distribution grid. Up to 80% of the faults on overhead lateral lines are from temporary issues. That means your crews are constantly chasing problems on one of the most exposed parts of your system. No matter how much vegetation work you do, these circuits stay vulnerable.
• Emergency response costs are eating into your budget and that of your critical customers. Some utilities report spending up to $20 million on mid-size outage events, with annual costs for larger investor-owned utilities exceeding $200 million. Severe weather outages drive up restoration expenses and disrupt the communities you serve. With major storms becoming more frequent, you're asking the right question: How can I invest more in hardening to stay ahead?

If you checked two or more boxes, your vegetation management strategy could benefit from lateral automation backup that works 24/7 to clear temporary faults before they become costly permanent outages.

The Smart Solution: Lateral Automation as Your UVM Partner

TripSaver® II Cutout-Mounted Reclosers work seamlessly with your existing UVM program to address the temporary fault problem at its source. These devices install quickly on overhead systems to automatically clear temporary faults before they can cause extended outages. Fault localization ensures that any permanent issues affect only the specific problem area rather than entire circuits. (See how it mitigates momentary and sustained outages here.)

The impact these devices can have is substantial. A major Northeast utility revamped its lateral reliability program with the addition of TripSaver II reclosers. With most of its overhead lines running beneath dense tree cover, vegetation was a major cause of customer outages. Relying solely on trimming proved a challenge for delivering rapid improvements in the face of consistent challenges like weather events, decaying trees, and lengthy trimming approvals.

The utility installed TripSaver II reclosers to enhance their reliability quickly without major infrastructure upgrades. The results of the initial deployments were impressive: both SAIDI score improvements and significant operational savings. With a full-scale deployment, the utility projected it’d save up to 53 million customer minutes and $1 million in O&M costs annually.

Build Your Business Case with Performance Data

Data analytics are crucial to helping utilities show the effectiveness of grid investments and make informed decisions for improvements.

Combining TripSaver II reclosers with the latest data tools makes it easier to measure their direct impact or assess your overall reliability strategy and UVM efforts:

• Sensors like Gridscope^TM from Gridware® pair with TripSaver II reclosers and provide updates on the device’s fault operations. You can use the data to measure field performance, including avoided outages or truck rolls.
• Advanced analysis solutions like those from Southwire® Digital Solutions (previously OBI Partners) review a variety of factors like your UVM program to assess your reliability and offer recommendations for optimization. These solutions work seamlessly together with TripSaver II reclosers.

Start With a Pilot … Prove the Value

Adding lateral automation isn't about replacing your tree-trimming work. It's about making every vegetation management dollar more effective while providing 24/7 protection against the temporary faults that traditional trimming can't prevent.

This approach delivers the win-win scenario: lateral automation enhances rather than replaces vegetation management, creating the opportunity for a comprehensive strategy that addresses both immediate fault clearing and long-term vegetation control.

Ready to demonstrate how a recloser can enhance your reliability?

Contact S&C to select optimal pilot locations for TripSaver® II Cutout-Mounted Recloser testing and establish clear metrics to track reliability gains alongside your existing vegetation management strategy.