Branches from our pine brush the wire running to the house. Can any tree company handle that?

Not just any. FPL says only specially trained line-clearing professionals should work around power lines, and UF/IFAS says anyone without electrical hazard training should never prune within 10 feet of a line. Trees FPL doesn't trim within that 10 feet are yours to have trimmed, so ask the contractor about line-clearance training before booking.

Tree Trimming Near Power Lines in Palm Coast, FL

Cost: no national guide prices line-side trimming on its own; HomeGuide says work around power lines raises the price, starting from arborist rates of $100 to $250 an hour.
Your zone: FPL says trees within 10 feet of a power line that it doesn't trim are the customer's responsibility.
Safe distance: FPL tells everyone to keep themselves and anything they hold at least 10 feet from neighborhood lines and 30 feet from transmission lines.
Transformer box: FPL asks for 8 feet clear in front of a pad-mounted transformer and 3 feet at the back and sides.

Palm Coast Tree Service relays line-clearance questions to a private tree contractor for the trees on your side of FPL's work. Tell us which line the tree is near, the one along the street or the one running to your house, and how close the nearest limb is.

Tree Trimming Near Power Lines, Owner Side and Utility Side

FPL serves Palm Coast from a service center it opened in the city in 2017; its summary for Flagler County that year listed inspections of 34,226 power poles in the county. Who trims a tree depends on which line it threatens and whether FPL has marked it.

Pine branch reaching toward a single overhead wire that runs from a wooden pole to the eave of a single-story stucco house, seen from the yard

Limbs Close to the Wire Running to the House

FPL won't trim every tree. Trees within 10 feet of a power line that FPL leaves alone are the customer's to have trimmed by a qualified tree trimmer. FPL is blunt about the rest: never try to trim anything growing near or on an overhead line yourself, and leave the work around energized wires to specially trained line-clearing professionals.

Owner's responsibility: trees within 10 feet of a line that FPL doesn't trim
UF/IFAS: no pruning within 10 feet of a conductor without electrical hazard training

Distant plain gray utility bucket truck parked on a residential street beside a row of trimmed oaks with a clear corridor cut around the overhead lines

Street and Easement Lines on FPL's Trimming Cycle

Along its own lines, FPL trims on a planned cycle. Its contractors use directional pruning, removing whole branches back toward the trunk so regrowth heads away from the wires. UF/IFAS notes owners sometimes think utility pruning is too severe, but the contractor is usually following the utility's specifications, which should follow ANSI pruning standards and ISA best practices. When FPL can't prune a tree without wrecking its shape or health, it removes it after telling the owner, with fast-growing, exotic and unhealthy trees the likeliest to go.

Outside the cycle, FPL leaves an inspection notice card with a scheduled work date
In 2017, FPL said it was trimming vegetation along Flagler County lines at a mile a day

Tall sabal palm in a front yard with its fronds reaching close to overhead lines strung along the street, single-story house behind

Palms Growing Toward the Wires

FPL names palm fronds alongside trees and limbs as things that can fall into overhead lines, and says qualified line-clearing professionals can trim to lower that risk. A palm whose crown has reached the wires is line-clearance work, not a routine frond trim. Away from the wires, a palm gets the same light trim as any other (palm trimming rules).

Young shade tree newly planted in a front lawn well back from a pad-mounted transformer box and the overhead lines along the street

Planting Clear of the Lines

FPL's Right Tree, Right Place advice starts before the hole is dug: find out how tall, wide and deep the tree will be at maturity, look up and note where the lines run, and use the setback diagram on FPL's tree location page. FPL also asks owners to keep trees, hedges and other deep-rooted plants away from the transformer box. Call 811 before digging (how 811 works), and see tree planting for species and spacing.

Transformer clear zone: 8 feet in front, 3 feet at the back and sides

Gloved hand cutting a dead brown frond off a sabal palm with a curved pruning saw, green fronds left on the crown above

Why Palm Coast homeowners, HOAs and property managers call Palm Coast Tree Service

Each request goes to just one tree company
Free to use; you pay only for work you sign off on
Ask for an estimate that lists cleanup and hauling
Ask to see liability and workers' comp proof

Before Work Near a Line Starts

If a branch is already touching a wire, stay well back and report it to FPL rather than calling a regular trimming crew; FPL's tree pages invite customers to report a tree or vine condition. A tree that has fallen onto lines is an emergency (what to do).

Ask the contractor whether the climber has electrical hazard or line-clearance training, how the limbs will be lowered away from the wire, and whether the estimate covers hauling.