Hydro Locates
Before you dig, drive a post, or plant a tree, call. This is a free service for excavators and homeowners. Having your utilities located before you dig is also the law under the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (section Construction Projects 228). Westario Power requires lead-time of 5 business days.
Phone: 519-507-6937 or
toll free 1-866-978-2746 Ext. 232
Fax: 519-507-6790 (System Reliability)
Conserve Energy -
Plant a Tree
Plant leafy (deciduous) trees on the sunny side of your house. During the summer they provide shade, and in the winter they shed their leaves to let the warming sunshine through. Through strategic placement of trees, energy demand can be significantly reduced; up to 40% for summer cooling and up to 10% for winter heating.
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Hydro Wires and Trees
If you have a concern about trees or tree limbs close to Westario Power lines, call 519-507-6937 or toll free 1-866-978-2746 Ext. 232. When customers request Westario Power to trim trees, we will review each request, on a case-by-case basis, to look for potential risks to system reliability.
Trees that interfere with or have the potential for interfering with existing utility lines, or trees that obstruct the route of new lines, will be trimmed, or sometimes removed. There are two exceptions:
- Trees near the distribution lines that pose no immediate risk to Westario Power’s distribution system will not be trimmed or removed. The customer should hire a fully qualified arborist with electrical awareness training. This training allows the arborist to encroach up to 3 feet to energize primary conductors. Since this tree poses no risk to Westario Power we will not participate in its removal.
- Trees that interfere with secondary service wires (wires from utility poles to the customer’s house or building) will not normally be trimmed or removed. The homeowner can make arrangements to have these wires temporarily disconnected and removed to permit the property owner or a contractor to trim or remove the tree. If a customer wants service wires temporarily disconnected to trim or remove a tree, contact Westario Power at least two weeks in advance to ensure the availability of a utility crew at the desired time. This service is available at no charge during normal working hours.
If Westario Power determines that a tree should be trimmed or removed, Westario Power will remove all branches and wood from the property. The property owner may keep any portion of the wood desired. However, Westario Power will not cut wood to uniform length nor stack the wood. Trees to be removed will be cut as close to ground level as possible.
Fallen trees or limbs that have fallen from standing trees are the responsibility of the property owner. The property owner is also responsible for the disposal of all limbs and wood resulting from the trimming of storm-damaged trees for Westario Power service restoration effort.
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