Monday letters: Stop the SCE&G tree massacres

It’s springtime in South Carolina. That means warmer temperatures, lots of pollen and lots of butchered trees, courtesy of SCE&G. The annual South Carolina chainsaw massacre is upon us.

When they visited my residence last month, workers managed to cut five trees in half at the trunk. That’s not tree trimming; that’s tree killing. Those trees were nowhere near interfering with the power line, and now they’re dead.

My calls to SCE&G resulted in shockingly bad customer service. Supervisors actually bragged that because they contracted this work out, they were immune from liability in a court of law. That may be, but SCE&G is not immune from the court of public opinion.

So shame on SCE&G. Any decent company would admit wrongdoing and try to make amends. But when you’re a virtually unregulated and unaccountable monopoly, apparently you can run roughshod over your customers without fear of repercussion. It’s situations such as this that demand the Legislature restore the rights of property owners.

This story was originally published April 10, 2016 at 7:29 PM with the headline "Monday letters: Stop the SCE&G tree massacres."