Unveiling the Secret Identity: Locating the Owner behind the Power Pole Infrastructure
Utility poles play a crucial role in delivering essential services such as electricity, telephone service, cable television, and internet access. Here's a guide on how to identify the owner of a utility pole, ensuring you can address issues effectively.
Utility poles are often marked with identifying information, including company logos or symbols, pole numbers, or identification codes. This information can provide initial clues about the pole's owner.
Crowdsourced mapping projects attempt to document the location and ownership of utility poles, but their accuracy and coverage may vary. For a more reliable approach, counties and municipalities offer online property records and Geographic Information System (GIS) maps that can help locate the utility pole and narrow down the list of potential owners.
Utility company websites may provide interactive maps and tools that help identify the pole owner. If you're unsure which company owns the pole, start by contacting the electric company, as they typically own the poles that support power lines.
In some cases, you may need to contact multiple companies to determine the owner. If you don't receive a response or are unable to determine the owner after contacting multiple companies, follow up with the utility companies to check on the status of your request.
It's essential to know the owner of a utility pole for various reasons, such as reporting hazards, obtaining permits for home improvements, requesting attachments, removing obstructions, addressing billing discrepancies, and more.
If a utility pole is jointly owned, one company typically acts as the 'controlling owner' and is responsible for the overall maintenance and management of the pole. However, each company is responsible for its own equipment attached to the pole.
In Germany, electricity lines on power poles in your area are typically owned and operated by regional distribution network operators (Verteilnetzbetreiber), of which there are about 830, responsible for medium- and low-voltage networks that deliver electricity to households and businesses. The four main transmission system operators (TenneT TSO GmbH, 50Hertz Transmission GmbH, Amprion GmbH, and TransnetBW) manage the high-voltage transmission grids but not the local lines on poles.
When contacting the utility companies, be prepared to provide information about all the equipment attached to the pole. In some cases, you may need to contact your local government or public utility commission for assistance in determining pole ownership.
Identifying the controlling owner can be challenging, but it's essential for reporting hazards or requesting permission for attachments. The controlling owner is usually the company that installed the pole originally, which is often the electric company.
Online resources and mapping tools can streamline the process of identifying the utility pole owner, making it easier for you to maintain the services you rely on.
