Planting a tree near a power line
Make sure to maintain the required minimum clearance from medium-voltage lines
Choose a tree or shrub that maintains the required minimum clearance.
It's a matter of providing reliable electrical service and, above all, ensuring your personal safety.
- Take a moment to watch
this animation: 
Before planting any tree or shrub, choose a species that maintains the required minimum clearance from medium-voltage lines.
- How to measure the required minimum clearance
- Never place a climbing plant so that it will grow up a power line pole. In the long run, this will inevitably create a dangerous situation.
- Use this easy way to choose a suitable tree or shrub – Online tool: "Clearance-Tree-Electricity"
- Hazards and nuisances if the required minimum clearance is not maintained
- Watch this video to see what happens when a branch comes too close to a medium-voltage line
- Did You Know?
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For quite a few species of trees, the required minimum clearance is more than 10 metres (30 feet)!
Use our online tool to quickly identify the species that suit your property.
The required minimum clearance takes into account:
- the span and height of the fully mature tree or shrub
- a safety margin around medium-voltage lines
- risk factors such as vulnerability to wind or ice damage
