Lake Region Electric Cooperative

Lake Region Electric Cooperative (LREC) is a utility service provider located in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota. Comprised of residential, commercial and industrial affiliates, LREC averages 4.6 members per mile within its 3,200 square-mile service territory.

Like many utilities, LREC spends a large portion of their operating budget on managing vegetation that could interfere with overhead lines. Historically, the utility had been using a "just in time" or hot-spotting approach to address vegetation issues. The management team knew that this was not the most efficient process, but understood that they needed a comprehensive plan to evaluate how to best invest in their system. They began searching for a company that would help solve these problems and discovered ACRT, whose system assessment service promised an evaluative, independent way to understand just what LREC was facing.

The ACRT system assessment delivers more than just a count of trees - it delivers a multi-year plan for utilities to get the most out of their maintenance budget. With processes developed to understand the cost-driving variables of a system, ACRT is empowered to describe how efficiently a system performs as well as the reasons behind that performance.

ACRT frequently hears comments such as "Coops are reluctant to spend money on a system assessment because they think they can just use the money to get more tree work done." LREC Operations Manager Joe Belz understands that reservation. However, Joe feels that without a comprehensive plan, utilities have no way of knowing how to wisely and effectively spend their maintenance dollars. The common saying definitely applies to vegetation management: "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it."

"The studies showed that if we didn't jump on these issues quickly, more and more trees were going to become a problem and increase costs down the road," said LREC CEO Tim Thompson. "It was a front-loaded option but gave the best solutions for the long run. We were so impressed with the scientific data that we received from ACRT's sampling that we hired them for our other needs. They helped us understand our total workload, develop professional member notifications, evaluate our contractors and perform circuit auditing services."

The cornerstone of the vegetation management program at LREC is safety. The proactive plan that LREC and ACRT designed enhances safety for both LREC line crews and the public. By proactively removing vegetation around energized conductors, line crews have an unobstructed work environment to perform maintenance on the system. LREC has also increased the public profile of the vegetation management program as it relates to the overarching cooperative goals for safe and reliable service to its members - some of which include:

• Eliminating hazards for children climbing trees
• Reducing the possibility that landowners will contact power conductors while pruning trees
• Reducing the likelihood of contacting power conductors when decorating trees
• Eliminating fires caused by tree branches contacting power conductors
• Eliminating downed power conductors across roadways or in yards caused by fallen branches
• Ensuring ongoing power distribution for those that rely on electricity for medical reasons

In addition to the safety precautions for their members, LREC knew trees were very important to the utility's membership for their environmental and aesthetic value. As line clearance activities naturally impact vegetation, LREC had specific interests in raising awareness for their serviced communities.

ACRT now manages member notifications for LREC through highly trained arborists that go door-to-door and communicate with members regarding upcoming vegetation management projects. ACRT also supervises work-planning initiatives such as the complete management of vegetation around all lines, substations and other utility assets. When pruning by the crews is complete, ACRT performs auditing to ensure that all vegetation has been accounted for and LREC has maximized its maintenance dollars.

"The fact that we have professional arborists going around to members and educating them about our tree program is great," Thompson said. "ACRT's professional arborists have led many educational and environmental talks throughout LREC including our annual meeting of more than 500 members, multiple district meetings, various local lake and housing associations, Arbor Day events and other gatherings. Average annual outage hours per member have also noticeably decreased. With their assistance, we've implemented enhanced maintenance cycles and procedures, improved tree clearance and pruning programs."

A recent membership satisfaction survey conducted by NRECA Market Research Services positioned LREC 10 points higher than the industry standard on the American Consumer Satisfaction Index and above most other investor-owned utility (IOU) leaders. In the report, LREC members cite knowledgeable employees, minimal outages, quick power restoration, member communications and environmental awareness as the utility's greatest strengths.

The Effectiveness of Tree Maintenance

Figure 1 - During a 2009 storm, the two most recently maintained substations (Dent and Maine) reported zero outages in contrast to multiple outages experienced on all other substations as shown here.

"Our board of directors is very practical in terms of how much money is spent and what rate of return we're get for all investments," Thompson said. "ACRT presented the board with ROI figures, graphs signifying trends, comprehensive details and a five-year plan that answered all the board's questions with solid facts and scientific data. They consistently provide a great amount of information that helps us understand where we are in that plan, defend the investment cost and answer any further questions from the board. Their assistance has been invaluable in assuring that we continue to provide the best possible power distribution for our members."

Headquartered in Akron Ohio, ACRT is a proactive vegetation management service provider partnering with the utility industry. Through our independent industry position, exceptional management team, national training programs and strong safety record, we review overall risk and prepare a total management plan that accounts for vegetation posing a risk to utility assets. By developing strong customer relationships combined with total UVM solutions, we provide long-term reliability and power outage prevention.

For more information on how ACRT can help manage and reduce the risks surrounding your system vegetation by maintaining a solid, independent position that increases accountability and reliability, contact us at (800) 622-2562.