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Woman caught off-guard by Duke Energy spraying program

By Jason Stoogenke, wsoctv.com
By Jason Stoogenke, wsoctv.com

A Lincoln County woman was shocked when a stranger showed up in her yard to spray for weeds, because she never hired anyone to do so.

"This man just walked into my yard," said Marissa, who asked that we not use her last name. “I don't like people coming on my property when I don't know it."

Marissa said a man was about to spray chemicals that she didn't want around her children, garden or animals.

She confronted the man.

"I said, ‘You know what are you doing?'  And he said, 'I'm coming to spray with Duke Energy.'  And I said, 'No, like, I do not want any chemicals sprayed on my property.'"

It turns out Duke Energy did hire the man.

In fact, the company hires contractors often to kill weeds around utility poles between May and October.

Duke Energy officials said vegetation can interfere with electricity.

Legally, the company can go on your property to get to its poles.

"We remind customers annually of the work that we need to do to maintain trees and vegetation in our rights-of-way," said Duke Energy spokesperson Meghan Musgrave Miles.

More specifically, Duke said it mails alerts and posts them online.

Marissa doesn't remember seeing any alerts, so she wants to make sure others aren't caught off-guard like she was.

"I want just awareness,” Marissa said. “Like, I want other moms and other families and just property owners, in general, to know that this is something that does happen whether you know it or not.”

Customers can ask Duke not to spray their yards.

In those cases, Duke will work out another weed-killing program for the poles on your property, such as tractor mowing, or even manually hand-cutting.

If you have questions about Duke's vegetation management program, go to the website Duke-Energy.com/trees or call 800-777-9898.

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