NH Electric Coop Broadband Petition

[Hivolt]

You can believe what you want to believe, I did not post that as some uninformed reader with an opinion, I’m in the industry and not as any sort of company management that would be siding with the utility.

Communications cables have been attached to poles pretty much since their inception yes, but every new piece of third party communication line goes higher on the pole, never lower, telephone is at the bottom always because they are co owners of the pole and have to be the last to transfer so they can remove the old pole.

Also safety standards have evolved continuously since the first communications lines were hung, the NESC which electric utilities follow as their code book have been constantly evolving requiring greater and greater minimum approach distances for electrically non-qualified workers. Voltages are ever increasing, back at the dawn of the electric age you had mostly 4000 volt primary systems, that allowed minimum approach distances to be less, hence the ability to install shorter poles. Over the years the voltages throughout the country have increased greatly especially in New Hampshire where you see 34,000 volt primary systems as the majority of what’s running down roads.

What started as the electric company and the telephone/ telegraph company on the poles has changed to include cable tv, private fiber optics for business and towns and colleges, municipal fire alarm, all with a minimum requirement for spacing between each other.

The primary wires you see at the top of the pole aren’t the only wires we have on the pole, adding fiber always requires us to move or secondary wires, that’s what our transformers feed into to give you voltage for your house.

You don’t have to buy anything I am saying, but what I am saying is true and any electric or telephone company as owners of the poles would not upgrade poles or move equipment for free.

Originally Posted by longislander

"Adding third party fiber to poles almost always requires the electric company to move up the height of their wires ..."

Do not believe this statement to be accurate! Poles and their use, have evolved with time. Surely, electric lines were at the top of poles before fiber lines were even thought of.

SEE,

"Very few utility poles are used for just one utility. Poles that house multiple services, like power, telephone, and cable, are called joint poles and are covered by strict safety rules that separate the utilities spatially."

https://hackaday.com/2016/02/22/a-fi...-utility-pole/


https://www.aep.com/assets/docs/safe...20Pole_AEP.pdf


"On poles carrying both electrical and communications wiring, the electric power distribution lines and associated equipment are mounted at the top of the pole above the communication cables, for safety."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_pole


"3. Utility pole wires carry more than just electricity

You may have noticed that utility poles have many wires. But not all carry electricity. Usually, the top three wires — which are called primary conductors — carry most of the electricity on the pole."

https://www.electrocuted.com/2016/09...ty-pole-facts/