Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted

I live in Houston and my house/lot has a power pole in the backyard. It is in the north east corner of the lot about a foot or so from the boundry line per the survey, which is where the fence is. A year ago, someone bought the house next to me (east), razed it, and is building new. They are getting close to the end and are about to connect power.

Bear with me as this stuff is foreign to me and I'll describe the best I can based on my 10 minutes of research, but I came home earlier this week and they had contractors running underground service laterals from their house to this power pole. They ran riser conduit up the pole where the cable comes out of the weatherhead. And I guess the plan is to connect to live wires on powerpole transformer/conductor/whatever the terminology is.

I don't really understand easements and how all that stuff works with utilities. This builder has pissed me off over the past year for several reasons, and maybe what they are doing is normal and I have to live with these extra conduit risers in my backyard. But I guess I question why they even need the underground run and conduit riser on my side and why they can't have the overhead service drop line from the power pole to a weatherhead riser attached to their house. Also, isn't the weatherhead the neighbor's property, but what if it's attached to Centerpoint's power pole on my property? I know centerpoint has the easement to service, but that doesn't mean my neighbor should.

Am I making a big deal out of nothing? I saw a Centerpoint truck driving off when I got home that day so I am assuming they know/approved this. But I don't know if I should give them a call as well.

 

 

Posted
13 hours ago, TexasCPA said:

I live in Houston and my house/lot has a power pole in the backyard. It is in the north east corner of the lot about a foot or so from the boundry line per the survey, which is where the fence is. A year ago, someone bought the house next to me (east), razed it, and is building new. They are getting close to the end and are about to connect power.

Bear with me as this stuff is foreign to me and I'll describe the best I can based on my 10 minutes of research, but I came home earlier this week and they had contractors running underground service laterals from their house to this power pole. They ran riser conduit up the pole where the cable comes out of the weatherhead. And I guess the plan is to connect to live wires on powerpole transformer/conductor/whatever the terminology is.

I don't really understand easements and how all that stuff works with utilities. This builder has pissed me off over the past year for several reasons, and maybe what they are doing is normal and I have to live with these extra conduit risers in my backyard. But I guess I question why they even need the underground run and conduit riser on my side and why they can't have the overhead service drop line from the power pole to a weatherhead riser attached to their house. Also, isn't the weatherhead the neighbor's property, but what if it's attached to Centerpoint's power pole on my property? I know centerpoint has the easement to service, but that doesn't mean my neighbor should.

Am I making a big deal out of nothing? I saw a Centerpoint truck driving off when I got home that day so I am assuming they know/approved this. But I don't know if I should give them a call as well.

 

 

In many cases everything up to the meter is owned by the utility, although as you note weatherheads attached to houses are commonly home owner responsibility.  Also I have yet to encounter a situation where everything on a power pole isn't owned by one utility or another who has services attached to the pole.  

 

So I can't definitively help you, but my guess is power pole attachments are property of utility.

Posted

Can you post a pic of the setup that you're describing? (I realize you run a chance of doxxing yourself if as nearby neighbor is on surly.)

Another option for you is to hide the utility pole setup by building a fence around it, or planting shrubs. You run a risk of Centerpoint tearing it up one day but it doesn't have to be the best and most expensive fence in the world. I have a neighbor who has a utility pole in the corner of their backyard, so they built a fence that effectively removed a few square feet of their backyard. They obviously see the utility pole above their fence.

Posted

Is the line from the pole to your house underground as well, or does it go to a riser on your house? It sounds like I have the exact same setup in my yard.  The pole is in the corner of my backyard, and the electric lines run underground from the pole to my house and across my backyard to several of my neighbors.  I came home one day to find my neighbor in my backyard  watching CenterPoint dig a trench across my backyard.  It seems one of the lines to his house burnt out and he didn't have 220V service, so his AC wouldn't work.  Of course, my dumbass dog was just sitting in the yard watching them.  The next day, CenterPoint came back. and this time they just let my dog out to roam the neighborhood.  I now have a lock on my gate so that I have to be there to give anyone access.  I don't think that there is anything you can really do because the easement gives the power company the right to access your property to repair/maintain the lines.  I have some really big shrubs in front of the power pole that hide most of the shit, but those took years to grow.  I think that's about the only thing you can do other than putting a lock on your gate.  You can also flood the power company with complaints, but in Texas that won't do much but get you on the list.  Fuck CenterPoint.

Posted

Easements exist for a reason but you can definitely make sure they stay within the designated space.  Typically 10ft wide in residential areas, you can confirm on your plat.  Nothing should be in or on your property, if it is, make them move it.  If they have to set up in your yard, due to size of equipment, they must restore all damage back to original state or as close as possible.  Wise to take before and after pictures.  Now if you plant things around their infrastructure, you are SOL.  They will tear that out with zero apology, as they should.

Folks that plant things around utility infrastructure deserve what's coming to them if there is ever a problem with your service.  Why would you hinder someone from doing their job?  You can try putting a lock on your gate but if there is an outage point in your yard, they are going to cut that lock or find another way in.

Posted
8 minutes ago, Ghost of NMAS said:

I didn't know that their job included letting my dog out to roam the neighborhood.  I'm sorry. I apologize for hindering them.

 

Should they just skip your house and all those affected by the infrastructure in your yard?  Accidents happen, dogs bite these people too.  In an ideal world they give you notice or try knocking on the door to see if you are home.  

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...