The Utility Says It's Not Their Pole. What Now?

Two Reports, One Sentence

In the past two weeks, two landowner reports reached AcreSeal from different parts of Texas. Both included the same sentence: they were told it's not their pole.

In the first, a pole at a busy intersection was hanging from its own wires with its base gone. The reporter said it had been that way for months, and that the electric company and the cable company had each said it wasn't theirs.

In the second, a pole carrying a home's electric meter was leaning after storm damage, with the line sagging lower. The utility told the owner the repair was the owner's responsibility.

The second answer may well be correct. The first can't be correct for everyone involved. In both cases, the answer was verbal: nobody had a written record of who looked, what they decided, or why.

Do This First: Make It Safe

Ownership can wait. A low line can't.

• Treat every low, sagging, or fallen line as live, and call 911 if a line is on the ground. Keep people, animals, and vehicles away from the line and the pole.
• If a line is within reach, hangs over a driveway or road, or the pole looks like it could fall, call the utility's outage or emergency line and ask for a safety visit, whatever they say about ownership.

A utility can say a pole is yours and still make the line safe, for example by disconnecting service until it's repaired. Ask for that directly.

When the Utility Is Right: Poles That Carry Your Meter

Most poles along a road or in a utility easement belong to the utility. The exception is the equipment that serves only your property. A pole near your house that carries only your meter, or a pole that brings service from the utility's line to your buildings, may belong to you under the utility's service rules or tariff.

Where the utility's responsibility ends is set by its service rules or tariff, or for an electric cooperative, its membership and service policies. A common arrangement is that the utility owns the line up to the meter and the owner owns the meter pole and everything past the meter. It varies by utility and by installation, which is why the next step matters.

Get the Answer in Writing

A phone answer can't be checked later. A written one can. Ask the utility three questions, by email or letter:

1. Which parts do you consider mine? The pole, the line from your pole to my meter, or both?
2. What is that based on? Ask for the service rule, tariff, or policy, by section.
3. Will you make it safe now? For example, by disconnecting service while the repair is arranged.

If the pole is yours, a licensed electrician usually does the repair, and the utility reconnects service after it is inspected.

When Nobody Claims the Pole

When the electric company, the cable company, and the phone company each say a pole isn't theirs, the pole doesn't stop being a hazard. Two things help.

Give utilities exact GPS coordinates rather than general street descriptions, and ask for a numbered trouble ticket every time. On the intersection pole above, a call that gave precise coordinates produced a numbered trouble report, where earlier callers who described the location had been turned away. One call isn't proof of a pattern, but a location the utility can find is a location it can log. A numbered report exists in the utility's system whatever it later decides about ownership. “Someone said it wasn't ours” does not.

Check the pole itself for a tag or stamp with a company name or pole number, and include it. If the pole is in a public road and nobody claims it, the city or county that manages the road is another call worth making.

What HB 144 Does, and What It Doesn't

Texas HB 144 (Tex. Util. Code §38.103) has each electric utility, cooperative, and municipally owned utility file a plan for managing and inspecting the distribution poles it owns. Under Texas HB 144 (Tex. Util. Code §38.103(b)(5)), a utility's pole plan includes a process for documenting and responding to landowner reports about the poles it owns, but the law does not decide who owns a particular pole.

If the pole belongs to the utility, your report falls under that process. If it belongs to you under the utility's service rules, HB 144 does not move it onto the utility.

If the Written Answer Doesn't Hold Up

The Public Utility Commission of Texas Customer Protection Division takes informal complaints about utility responses at 1-888-782-8477. You can also call (512) 936-7120. The PUCT asks the utility to respond. Its authority is broadest over investor-owned utilities and narrower over cooperatives and municipally owned utilities, so treat it as a way to get a response on record rather than a guaranteed fix. It works best when you already have the utility's answer in writing.

Keep Your Own Record

Whatever happens, keep:

• a dated photo of the pole and the line,
• the exact location,
• every ticket number, with the date and the name of the person you spoke to,
• the utility's written answer.

AcreSeal's free landowner report records your photo, location, and submission time, and gives you a link you can share with the utility or anyone else. It doesn't by itself show the utility received your report, so keep the ticket number alongside it. Start one at acreseal.com/report.

Frequently Asked Questions