Utility Poles on Your Property in Texas: Your Rights, Their Responsibilities, and How to Report a Problem

If you own rural or suburban property in Texas, there's a good chance a utility pole sits on or near your land. Maybe it's been there since before you bought the place. Maybe it's leaning. Maybe the utility company just showed up one day and started digging.

Whatever the situation, you have rights. And as of June 2025, those rights carry more weight than they ever have before.

This guide covers who owns the pole, what the utility company can and can't do on your property, what changed under HB 144, and how to report a problem in a way that actually gets documented.

Who Owns the Pole on Your Property?

In almost every case, the utility company owns the pole — not you. Even though it sits on your land, the utility holds an easement that grants them the legal right to install, maintain, and repair poles, wires, and related equipment within a defined corridor.

Utility easements in Texas are typically established in one of three ways. The first is through your property deed — when the land was originally platted or subdivided, an easement was recorded that runs with the land regardless of who owns it. The second is through a negotiated agreement — at some point, a previous owner or you granted the utility permission to install infrastructure. The third is through eminent domain — under Texas law, electric utilities, cooperatives, and municipally owned utilities have the legal authority to condemn easements for power lines and related infrastructure, though they must provide just compensation.

Your property deed, title policy, or a current survey should show the location and width of any utility easement. If you don't see one but there's clearly a pole on your property, contact the utility or a title company to clarify the legal basis. If you're not sure which utility serves your area, the AcreSeal coverage map lets you click any Texas service territory to identify the responsible utility.

What the Utility Can and Can't Do

Within the easement, the utility has the right to install and maintain poles, wires, transformers, and related equipment. They can access the easement for inspections, repairs, and emergency work — typically without advance notice for emergencies, and with reasonable notice for routine maintenance.

What the utility cannot do is exceed the scope of the easement. If the easement is 10 feet wide and they install a pole 15 feet outside that boundary, they've exceeded their authority. If the easement covers electric distribution and they allow a telecommunications company to attach cable lines without a separate agreement, that may also exceed the original grant.

The utility is also responsible for maintaining the pole in safe condition. A leaning pole, a cracked pole, a pole with vegetation growing into the power lines — these are the utility's responsibility to address, not yours. You are not required to maintain, repair, or replace any utility-owned infrastructure on your property.

If utility crews damage your property during maintenance — tearing up landscaping, breaking fences, leaving ruts in your field — the utility is responsible for restoring the property to its previous condition. This applies to electric cooperatives, investor-owned utilities, and municipal utilities alike.

What Changed Under HB 144

House Bill 144, signed into law on June 20, 2025, created the first statewide requirement for every Texas electric utility to submit a distribution pole inspection and management plan to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT).

One of the nine required components of that plan — specifically Sec. 38.103(b)(3)(C) — addresses landowner complaints directly. Every utility must now describe its processes for documenting and responding to reports or complaints made by landowners regarding the condition or repair of distribution poles.

This is new. Before HB 144, utilities had no statutory obligation to document how they handled your pole complaint. They could log it in a spreadsheet, ignore it, or lose it — and there was no regulatory consequence. Under HB 144, the PUCT will review how each utility handles landowner complaints as part of its plan evaluation. Guidehouse, the $5.7 billion consulting firm contracted by the PUCT, will audit these processes.

What this means for you as a landowner is straightforward. Your complaint about a damaged pole is no longer an informal request — it is a data point in a regulated compliance process. If the utility fails to document their response to your report, that gap becomes visible during the Guidehouse review.

How to Report a Problem Effectively

There are three ways to report a utility pole problem in Texas, and they are not equally effective.

The first is to call your utility's customer service line. This is the traditional approach. A representative logs your call and someone may follow up. The limitation is that phone calls don't create verifiable evidence. There's no timestamped record with photos, no GPS coordinates, and no way to prove when you reported the problem or what the pole looked like at the time.

The second is to file a complaint with the PUCT. You can contact the PUCT at (512) 936-7120 or through their website. This escalates the issue to the state regulator. The PUCT investigates complaints and can require the utility to act. This is effective for serious safety concerns but the process can be slow, and the PUCT form doesn't capture photos or GPS data.

The third is to document the problem digitally with photo and GPS evidence. When you submit a report with a timestamped photo, your device's GPS coordinates, and a written description, you've created evidence that exists independently of the utility's internal records. If the utility later claims they never received a complaint, your documented submission says otherwise.

AcreSeal's reporting portal at acreseal.com/report-pole lets you do this from your phone in about 60 seconds. No account required. No app to download. You describe the problem in plain English (or Spanish), share your location, and optionally upload photos. Every report is sealed with a cryptographic timestamp that proves when it was submitted — the record can't be altered after the fact by anyone. Track the status anytime with your complaint ID at acreseal.com/status.

What If the Pole Is Outside the Easement?

This is more common than most landowners realize. Utility infrastructure gets installed, roads get widened, property lines get resurveyed, and sometimes a pole that was originally within the easement is now outside it. Or the pole was never within the easement to begin with.

If you believe a utility pole is outside the recorded easement on your property, start by getting a current survey. Compare the survey to the easement description in your deed. If there's a discrepancy, document the pole's location with photos and GPS coordinates. Then contact the utility in writing — not just by phone — to request that they verify the pole's placement against the easement.

Under Texas law, a utility that has infrastructure outside its easement is either trespassing or operating under an implied easement from long use. Either way, you have the right to seek resolution. Some utilities will negotiate a new easement (with compensation). Others may relocate the pole. If the utility refuses to act, you may need to consult a real estate attorney — several Texas firms specialize in utility easement disputes.

Regardless of the legal resolution, documenting the pole's condition and location through a digital report creates a timestamped record that supports any future negotiation, complaint, or legal proceeding.

Your Rights — A Summary

You have the right to know what easements exist on your property and what they permit. You have the right to expect the utility to maintain its infrastructure in safe condition. You have the right to report a damaged, leaning, or dangerous pole and expect a documented response. Under HB 144, that response is now part of a regulated compliance process that the PUCT reviews. And you have the right to create your own independent record of the problem — evidence that doesn't depend on the utility's willingness to document it.

If you see a damaged or dangerous utility pole on or near your property, report it. Go to acreseal.com/report-pole — no account needed, works from your phone, takes about 60 seconds. Your report enters a forensic evidence chain that carries regulatory weight under Texas HB 144.