Landscaping Safety

You can help us keep service reliable in your neighbourhood by taking care when planting trees and shrubs, and reporting potential safety issues when you see them. 

Shrubs

Thinking about planting shrubs around that green box on your property? Remember, this box--called a padmount transformer--contains electrical equipment that runs underground.

It's important to call before you dig or submit an online request to find out the location of underground cables. If you opt to plant shrubs, greenery or fencing near a transformer box on your property, please be advised that these items may be removed at any time to allow Tillsonburg Hydro crews to safely access and service the transformer.

Landscaping tips

• Keep all shrubs, fences and other permanent structures at least 3 metres from the front and 1.5 metres from the back and sides of the transformer.
• The location number and/or company lock on padmount transformers must be visible at all times.
• Select plants that are slow growing and easy to maintain. Avoid using plants with thorns, such as holly, barberry, blackberry, hawthorn or roses.
• Don't allow plants to overgrow the transformer. Equipment can overheat and become damaged, possibly causing a power interruption.
• Don't plant vines or ivy, which can attach to and potentially damage the transformer.
• Don't place dirt, wood chips or snow against any portion of the transformer. This can also cause it to overheat and/or rust prematurely.
• Don't change grade levels around the pad-mounted transformer for 1.8 metres out from the cement base of the transformer.

Trees

If planting trees around your property, be sure to plant the right tree in the right place. Remember that a small tree now could grow to be much larger later.

Planting trees near pad-mounted transformers is never a good idea as a tree's large root system could lift the concrete pad and potentially create a power outage.

When locating trees elsewhere on your property, consider the potential height of the tree and avoid planting in locations where the tree could grow to contact overhead power lines.

If you need to prune or remove a tree near a powerline or a ground-level transformer box, call us before starting.