CGE summer plan inspects 87,600 poles and 7,000 km of grid and flags 27,000 risky trees

CGE, the Chilean power distributor with the most customers, presented its 2026-2027 Summer Plan to cope with heatwaves and rising demand. Since September, its crews have carried out almost 100,000 preventive maintenance tasks: 87,600 poles inspected, more than 7,000 km of medium-voltage lines checked and 600 linear km of tree trimming and felling, Revista Electricidad reported on 3 November 2026.

The company also identified more than 27,000 spots with large trees outside the safety strip that could fall on the lines, and sent letters to landowners asking them to trim or fell them. CGE serves more than 3.4 million customers in 12 regions, from Arica y Parinacota to La Araucanía.

Besides inspections, crews check and fix problems in lines, transformers and reclosers using thermal cameras, drones and insulator washing, a key task in coastal and farming areas where dust and salt cause faults. According to the company, the plan responds to rising temperatures, higher demand in some areas and the likelihood of heatwaves and extreme temperatures.

Maule and O'Higgins account for almost 60% of the poles checked. They are farming regions with long rural lines and dense vegetation, where wind and heat often cause outages in summer. In October, a thunderstorm and a tornado left more than 112,000 customers without power in those same regions.

Trees and branches falling on lines are one of the most frequent causes of power cuts. CGE says the trees felled so far, laid end to end, would stretch more than 600 km, the distance between Santiago and Victoria. The 27,000 risk spots identified are outside the safety strip, meaning on private land, so trimming is up to the owners; that is why the company wrote to them.

Other distributors are preparing similar plans. Enel, in Santiago, committed to trimming 22,000 trees by 30 November and inspecting 510 km of lines, as we detailed in Enel's summer plan; in Los Ríos, four companies will spend CLP 651 million on trimming and maintenance, as we reported in the preventive plans in Los Ríos.

Sources: CGE via Revista Electricidad (3 Nov 2026), Enel Distribución and SEC Los Ríos (October 2026).

For emergencies, CGE has 277 mobile backup units ranging from 10 kVA to 2,000 kVA, with a total capacity of 93,440 kVA, enough to serve about 100,000 customers while lines are repaired. Its executives are touring the regions from Coquimbo to La Araucanía to present the plan and expect to hold 173 meetings with regional and local authorities.

"CGE's Summer Plan is part of an annual prevention strategy," said Víctor Balbontín, CGE's director of operations. The company did not disclose how much the plan costs.

Thermal cameras detect hot spots in connections, joints and transformers before they fail: a loose or corroded joint heats up more than the rest of the conductor and shows up as a bright spot in the infrared image. Drones make it possible to check rural or hard-to-reach sections without cutting supply, and insulator washing cleans salt and dust off insulators, which on humid days can cause flashovers and outages.

These techniques focus on the medium-voltage network, the feeders that carry power from substations to the transformers in each neighbourhood. A fault on a feeder can leave thousands of customers without power at once, which is why distributors focus there before summer, when heat overloads transformers as people turn on air conditioners and fans.

In an outage, customers should report it to their distributor and, if there is no response, file a complaint with the SEC, Chile's electricity and fuel regulator, which publishes online the number of customers without power by district. Long outages give the right to compensation under the law, which distributors must pay as a discount on the bill; the SEC checks that it is paid. It is worth keeping the complaint number and noting when the outage started and ended. For people who rely on medical equipment or work from home, small backup can help; at Energía Futura we compared options in the emergency solar kit for a power cut.

What is CGE's Summer Plan?

The distributor's preventive maintenance programme for the 2026-2027 season: almost 100,000 tasks, including pole and line inspections, tree trimming and backup equipment.

Which regions does it cover?

CGE's whole concession area, 12 regions between Arica y Parinacota and La Araucanía. Pole inspections are concentrated in Maule and O'Higgins.

What if there is a risky tree on my land?

If it is outside the safety strip, trimming is the owner's responsibility. CGE has written to the owners of the 27,000 spots identified.

How many backup units does CGE have?

277 mobile units with 93,440 kVA, enough for about 100,000 customers.

Where do I complain about a power cut?

First to the distributor and, if the problem is not solved, to the SEC, which also publishes online the number of customers without power by district.