Live line working

At Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE), we have teams who use specialised techniques and equipment to carry out maintenance on electricity lines when they are still live.

Our live line teams carry out tree cutting and overhead line maintenance.

The crews wear specialist clothing and 'hot gloves' to protect them. They also use equipment on insulated fibreglass poles to allow them to work safely.

Working 'live' allows us to reduce the number of planned electricity outages for customers throughout the year.

Find out more about planned electricity outages.