President’s Message – July 2025

Who Owns What?

Understanding Electric Equipment Responsibilities

As July rolls in with longer days and rising temperatures, it also brings an increased potential for severe weather. Summer storms can arrive quickly and hit hard, sometimes causing significant damage to essential electric equipment throughout our service area.

Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative (GCEC) is always prepared to respond swiftly to outages and restore power safely, but it is important for homeowners to understand which parts of the electric system are their responsibility and which are maintained by the co-op. Understanding these key differences can help speed up repairs and ensure everyone stays safe when the weather turns rough.

GCEC is responsible for maintaining and repairing the equipment and lines that run to your home, including utility poles, distribution power lines, electric meters, and pad-mounted transformers.

Co-op members are responsible for the equipment between the electric meter and your home or business. Members are also responsible for the weatherhead and service mast outside the home.

If any equipment that you, the homeowner, are responsible for is damaged, call a licensed electrician to conduct the repairs. A professional has the experience and know-how to assess and manage these types of repairs.

When severe weather damages electrical equipment, it’s important to note that any necessary repairs to the homeowner’s equipment must be conducted before GCEC crews can restore power to your home or business. By understanding the equipment you are responsible for, the repair and restoration process will be smoother and faster.

Tree Trimming

Our community takes great pride in the beautiful trees and landscaping that contribute to the natural beauty where we live. However, regular trimming is essential to ensure reliable electric service and minimize damage from severe weather.

GCEC regularly trims trees throughout our service territory to improve service reliability. If you spot a tree limb obstructing a distribution power line outside your home, call us so we can trim those limbs and maintain those lines.

Any overgrown limbs or vegetation around the service line is the homeowner’s responsibility, and in these cases, call a professional tree trimming service to assist.

By working together to understand the essential equipment that powers daily life, we can all be better prepared to start the repair and restoration process if severe weather affects our community.

Gulf Coast Electric Cooperative partners with HomeServe, an independent company, to provide members with affordable emergency repair plans that help protect against costly and inconvenient covered repairs to systems throughout their homes and properties. Please visit the “Resources” section of our website.