To help Katy go green and save some green, CenterPoint Energy is asking citizens to move their green out of the way.

"We spend $20 million a year trimming trees," CenterPoint Energy forester Ray Davis told the Katy City Council on Dec. 10.

Davis said when people go to plant trees, one of the first things they should do when choosing a location is look up and see if there are any power lines overhead.

"If we can get people to plant the right tree in the right place, we can reduce trimming costs," he said.

Too often, Davis said, homeowners and business owners will do their landscaping without considering how tall their tree will be in a few years. They later find themselves complaining when the company has to come by and trim a significant portion of it away from power lines. He said high-voltage lines need at least 10 feet of space around them. Lower voltage lines need seven feet.

"The biggest outage in the United States was caused by trees," he said.

Davis said that not only does it cost the company a lot of money to trim trees, but that falling limbs and trees cause blackouts, damage lines and equipment and waste a lot of electricity through the damage they cause. All that time and expense costs the company and its customers more money, not to mention down time without power.

"Last year in Fort Bend County we removed 100 trees and put back 50," Davis said.

He said CenterPoint Energy has been going to each of the cities it serves doing trim work and educating people about the affect trees have on electricity transmission lines.

"We're hoping that one day we can do one in Katy," he said.