Electricity pole in our garden marked with 'D' (defective)

boots_babe

Hi,


We have an electricity pole in our garden, and recently they came to inspect it. They told us it was hollow and not safe to be climbed, and have put a 'D' plaque on it. Google tells me this means 'defective' which makes sense. However what I can't find out is, what (if anything) does the electricity company have to do about it?

EDITED TO ADD: "we have no wayleave agreement for the pole"


We moved in 2 years ago, and had always thought it would be good to investigate if there is an option for us to pay towards having the pole removed, and the cables put underground instead. I'm now wondering, if it's the case that they must do something to make the current pole safe, then they would be spending £X on that work. So then is there a possibility that we could instead ask to have the cables put underground thus removing the dangerous pole, and we just pay the difference between £X and the total cost of putting the cables in the ground?


Hope that makes sense! Of course maybe they aren't obliged to do anything for the 'D' poles, I have tried to look this up online and not been able to find anything useful.


Thanks.

GenieBoy

If it's on your land then there should be a wayleave agreement, if not, tell them to shift it. And don't agree to having cables under your garden.

Robin9

It is a safety measure for their staff - it will be replaced in the fullness of time.

You can but ask.


In my days as a engineer with a electricity distribution company I could exercise  some discretion in these matters  but a simple question does not always have a simple answer.

thegreenone

We had UKPN dig up our road and bury almost all the cables.  We asked if they would bury the cables that front-to-back, our garden. 

They did - dug the trench from pole to front of house; dug up the paving (and repaired) in the side alley way; hand dug a trench across back garden, under low wall and under fence to their 'box'.  We didn't pay a penny.  The pole at the back is still there as it feeds four neighbours down but we have no cables over our garden anymore.

We have no plans for an extension.  The only thing we would do is replace the garage and there is suitable distance between that and the trench.

Robin9

GenieBoy said:

If it's on your land then there should be a wayleave agreement, if not, tell them to shift it. 

Not necessarily - if it supplies only them it is a service pole.

boots_babe

Sorry I should have said, there is no wayleave agreement. I looked into it when we moved in, but it wasn't worth the paltry amount we would get, and so I didn't want to sign up for one.

When we enquired, they sent us all the paperwork for the wayleave, but when we decided not to go ahead then they pestered us for a few months to complete it, but we just ignored them.

theonlywayisup

boots_babe said:

Sorry I should have said, there is no wayleave agreement. I looked into it when we moved in, but it wasn't worth the paltry amount we would get, and so I didn't want to sign up for one.

When we enquired, they sent us all the paperwork for the wayleave, but when we decided not to go ahead then they pestered us for a few months to complete it, but we just ignored them.

Are you sure there wasn't a wayleave before you purchased?  

boots_babe

theonlywayisup said:

boots_babe said:

Sorry I should have said, there is no wayleave agreement. I looked into it when we moved in, but it wasn't worth the paltry amount we would get, and so I didn't want to sign up for one.

When we enquired, they sent us all the paperwork for the wayleave, but when we decided not to go ahead then they pestered us for a few months to complete it, but we just ignored them.

Are you sure there wasn't a wayleave before you purchased?  

No definitely not, it was looked at by our solicitor during purchase. And the electricity company confirmed the same when I contacted them.

Section62

boots_babe said:

However what I can't find out is, what (if anything) does the electricity company have to do about it?

As Robin9 says, it is an instruction to staff and doesn't mean the owners of the pole need to do anything in terms of replacing it (in the near future).

Locally the policy here is to use a cherry picker to gain access to the equipment on the pole rather than using other climbing methods that might add unsafe additional load to the pole.  There's also restrictions on what additional equipment can be added, so for example adding new services may require a D-pole to be replaced whereas a sound one could just have the additional services fixed to it.  The same applies to Openreach and anyone else with equipment on the pole.

A D-pole I knew of was still where it was about 25 years after having the D fixed on it.  I'm fairly sure there will be others much older.

theonlywayisup

boots_babe said:

theonlywayisup said:

boots_babe said:

Sorry I should have said, there is no wayleave agreement. I looked into it when we moved in, but it wasn't worth the paltry amount we would get, and so I didn't want to sign up for one.

When we enquired, they sent us all the paperwork for the wayleave, but when we decided not to go ahead then they pestered us for a few months to complete it, but we just ignored them.

Are you sure there wasn't a wayleave before you purchased?  

No definitely not, it was looked at by our solicitor during purchase. And the electricity confirmed the same when I contacted them.

Then I would be speaking with the utility company to have their pole and wires removed.

Section62

theonlywayisup said:

boots_babe said:

theonlywayisup said:

boots_babe said:

Sorry I should have said, there is no wayleave agreement. I looked into it when we moved in, but it wasn't worth the paltry amount we would get, and so I didn't want to sign up for one.

When we enquired, they sent us all the paperwork for the wayleave, but when we decided not to go ahead then they pestered us for a few months to complete it, but we just ignored them.

Are you sure there wasn't a wayleave before you purchased?  

No definitely not, it was looked at by our solicitor during purchase. And the electricity confirmed the same when I contacted them.

Then I would be speaking with the utility company to have their pole and wires removed.

That could be premature, unless the OP is sure they want to live off-grid.

(See Robin9's earlier post)