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Utility poles are critical infrastructure to transport power and communications to homes and businesses across the country. When work needs to be performed within right-of-ways, utilities need to obtain permits from the entity that controls the land.
Frequently Asked Questions About Pole Permitting
Who owns and maintains telephone poles?
Poles are usually owned and maintained by utility companies within your area, like Verizon, Comcast, or electric power companies. Most of the surrounding poles at our headquarters in Dillsburg, PA are owned by Met-Ed.
If you’re a homeowner trying to identify who owns the pole on your property, reach out to your local electric company.
Who needs to get a permit?
Pole owners need to notify and get the okay of the entity that owns the land where that pole is located. Usually, those entities are either the state, the municipality, the railroad, or private citizens or businesses. Depending on who owns the land and what work is being performed (ie: pole replacements or inserting new anchors), a permit may be required before starting construction.
Why do pole owners need it?
While the utility owns the pole, the land often belongs to other entities, such as the state, the municipality, the railroad, or private citizens or businesses. Before they can perform work, the pole owner has to obtain a permit from them. Oftentimes, there are fees and contingencies (such as traffic workarounds) that need to be addressed.
Permitting helps align with other entities to make sure that the work being performed to bring reliable utilities to people doesn’t jeopardize or conflict with other resources.
How can an attacher get permission to attach to telephone poles?
Each pole owner has their own application process for attaching to poles. Check the utility’s website for more information on their third-party and joint use attachment guidelines.
Every cable attachment to a utility pole adds an additional strain on the pole. Electric utilities that own poles are primarily concerned with keeping the power on for their customers, and unsafe attachments can jeopardize that goal. Not to mention, if improperly installed attachments pose a threat to crews working on the pole. Pole owners must allow internet service providers to attach to poles, but the make ready engineering process makes sure that new attachments are safe.
What’s the Pole Attachment Act of 1978?
In 1978, communications and cable TV were just starting to grow in popularity, and more providers wanted to attach to utility poles. Congress enacted Section 224 of the Communications Act, 47 U.S.C to give the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulatory authority over the rental rates and terms for pole attachments. This helps make sure that the cost of attaching to a pole is reasonable and just.
The Make Ready and Permitting Process
Not every attachment application requires a permit, but when necessary, the process is always performed by the pole owner and falls within the much larger pole attachments workflow. This is a greatly simplified overview:
Application Submission and Review
The process starts when new attachers submit applications for the pole. The pole owner reviews the application for completeness and accuracy before moving on to engineering.
Engineering and Permitting
The utility will design the necessary make ready engineering and provide an estimate for the work.
Depending on the type of work being performed, pole owners (or their engineering contractors) may need to contact and submit permits to the entity that owns the land as well. For example, if they need to replace a pole that’s located on a state road, they’ll have to reach out to the DOT first, figure out what right-of-way information is needed, and apply for the permit. The exact process will look different depending on what entity owns the land.
Construction
Once the plan and invoicing have been accepted by the applicant, construction crews are sent out to perform power and simple make ready. (This process is slightly different depending on whether the applicant and pole owner are using a one-touch make ready vendor.)
Post-Construction Inspections
After construction is finished, PCI crews head out into the field to collect documentation of the pole’s new state. That data is compared to the engineering plan to make sure that all the new cables have been installed safely.
Pennsylvania Permitting Resources
Within Pennsylvania, the PA Public Utility Commission website has a ton of resources for utility pole permits with different entities. For other states, check in with your public utility commission or governing body.
The PennDOT Design Manual has more information about utility pole codes near state roads. Keep in mind that applications may need to go through pertinent districts.
The Pennsylvania Code Chapter 459 goes into more detail about different rules for utilities and highway occupancy.
The PA PUC site walks through the entire application and permitting process for railroads, and railroad crossing guidelines.
The municipal process can vary greatly from municipality to municipality—some have a simple and straight-forward process, and others don’t require a permit at all. Check in with your local muni to learn more.
Notifying and working with private owners and businesses depends on each utility’s unique process.
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