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

ROY47

Google tells me this means 'defective' which makes sense 

is it like the one on this page ? scroll down the page to see thepicture of the D  does  it has similar  letters / numbers on it ?

https://www.britishtelephones.com/gpo/pole.htm 

Wonka_2

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 company confirmed the same when I contacted them.

So I'm genuinely interested in what you/your solicitor expected to happen and why you chose not to accept the proposed wayleave agreement ?

Was the property new and an agreement just hadn't been set up yet with the developers or was it an old, longstanding issue that had not previously been addressed ?

I suspect if you want to open discussions with them on removing the pole/re-routing wires etc then this is going to involve committing to a future agreement - is this something you're prepared to do ?

boots_babe

ROY47 said:

Google tells me this means 'defective' which makes sense 

is it like the one on this page ? scroll down the page to see thepicture of the D  does  it has similar  letters / numbers on it ?

https://www.britishtelephones.com/gpo/pole.htm 

Yes exactly that.

boots_babe

Wonka_2 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 company confirmed the same when I contacted them.

So I'm genuinely interested in what you/your solicitor expected to happen and why you chose not to accept the proposed wayleave agreement ?

Was the property new and an agreement just hadn't been set up yet with the developers or was it an old, longstanding issue that had not previously been addressed ?

I suspect if you want to open discussions with them on removing the pole/re-routing wires etc then this is going to involve committing to a future agreement - is this something you're prepared to do ?

Hi Wonka_2,

We were not really bothered about the pole being there, I suspect it may have put other people off buying but we really didn't mind, as it's far outweighed by all the other pluses (mainly that it's in the middle of nowhere, no neighbours, lots of wildlife and nice and quiet). After living here for a while I read something online about people who have been able to ask their electricity company to take out the pole, put in underground cables, and pay for the work to be done, and it made me think that would be quite nice to do, if possible. So it has been in the back of my mind that we may enquire about that at some point.

It's not a new build, not exactly sure how hold the property is but the oldest map I've been able to find goes back to I think 1846 and it was on there. Lots of unknowns about the property - nobody knew where the septic tank pipes went, which became a big issue during conveyancing (we still don't know but we thankfully sorted this out legally). The water company don't know where exactly their kit is within our property, which means they cannot install a water meter (we don't want one so that suits us fine!). 

We then had one of those 'chancing their luck' notes through the door from a company that proffers you a pot of gold in return for letting them setup a wayleave agreement. Obviously didn't fall for that, but it just made me think that perhaps it was worth looking at how much money we may be entitled to if we went down that route. Turns out it was such a paltry amount, it wasn't worth the paperwork (less than £2 per year I think). And given that I still had in my mind that we may want to ask if we could pay to have the pole removed in future, I thought best to avoid the wayleave, in case that impeded us.

Fast forward to now and the electricity company did what I believe was just a regular check on their equipment, which resulted in it being marked with a D plate, and them verbally telling us that it was unsafe. And that's just how I've then come to wonder what they must do in this case (maybe nothing at all of course), and whether we could use this as an opportune moment to enquire about swapping the pole for underground cabling.

We'd have no problem with signing some form of longstanding agreement with the electricity company in return for putting in an underground cable. This is our forever home so can't foresee any issues with that.

Not sure anyone has really been able to conclusively answer the question which is a shame. I will probably just need to call the electricity company and ask - which is fine, but I would prefer to be armed in advance, in terms of knowing what their obligations are for a D marked pole. As I say it may turn out that they don't need to do anything at all, in which case that's fine. I think we'll still probably enquire about the costs for pole removal though. 

boots_babe

GenieBoy said:

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.

I know nothing at all about the technicalities of things, but if we have no pole nor any cables, surely it would be impossible for us to be served with electricity?

Section62

boots_babe said:

GenieBoy said:

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.

I know nothing at all about the technicalities of things, but if we have no pole nor any cables, surely it would be impossible for us to be served with electricity?

^This.  Before anything else you need to know whether the cables serve your property and anybody else's.  If they only serve yours then no wayleave is needed.

If you demand all the cables are removed - as some people are suggesting - then there would be no way of supplying your property and you'd be 'off-grid'.  Hopefully someone at the DNO would double check the situation with you before putting through the work instruction for disconnection of your property and removal of all their equipment, but you can never be sure these days... they may just assume you know what you want.

All statutory undertakers (the electicity DNO is one of these) have to consider requests for the removal or alteration of their equipment.  But have the legal right to make a charge to cover the cost of any work needing to be done.  If you ask for a quote to have your current overhead supply converted to underground they have an obligation to provide a quote unless the request you make isn't feasible.  Quotes for that kind of work typically start at 4-figures, and go much higher very quickly depending on the complexity of the job.  You may also be asked to pay for the work done to provide a quote - but company policy on this varies.  Only the DNO for your area can give you absolute answers.

boots_babe

Section62 said:

boots_babe said:

GenieBoy said:

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.

I know nothing at all about the technicalities of things, but if we have no pole nor any cables, surely it would be impossible for us to be served with electricity?

^This.  Before anything else you need to know whether the cables serve your property and anybody else's.  If they only serve yours then no wayleave is needed.

If you demand all the cables are removed - as some people are suggesting - then there would be no way of supplying your property and you'd be 'off-grid'.  Hopefully someone at the DNO would double check the situation with you before putting through the work instruction for disconnection of your property and removal of all their equipment, but you can never be sure these days... they may just assume you know what you want.

All statutory undertakers (the electicity DNO is one of these) have to consider requests for the removal or alteration of their equipment.  But have the legal right to make a charge to cover the cost of any work needing to be done.  If you ask for a quote to have your current overhead supply converted to underground they have an obligation to provide a quote unless the request you make isn't feasible.  Quotes for that kind of work typically start at 4-figures, and go much higher very quickly depending on the complexity of the job.  You may also be asked to pay for the work done to provide a quote - but company policy on this varies.  Only the DNO for your area can give you absolute answers.

That's really helpful, thank you!

I had assumed it would be some sort of 4 figure fee at the very least, but until we know, we can't decide if it's worth it to us. I think we have nothing to lose by asking the question of whether they plan to do anything to the pole since being diagnosed as dangerous, and then enquire about costs for removal. 

Eldi_Dos

A pole being designated a D pole does not mean it is dangerous, it can just be it has not passed one of the tests required before a engineer climbs it. Usually a cherry picker would be used if work had to be carried out if that is the case.
As others have said a D pole can stand for decades with that designation.

ROY47

boots_babe said:

ROY47 said:

Google tells me this means 'defective' which makes sense 

is it like the one on this page ? scroll down the page to see thepicture of the D  does  it has similar  letters / numbers on it ?

https://www.britishtelephones.com/gpo/pole.htm 

Yes exactly that.

If it is exactly like that  it is BT / Openreach  only   not utility /electric pole   unless it also has

a yellow danger of death  plate on it?   If so it is both electric and Joint BT pole 

similar to this one

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-a-west-midlands-electricity-board-warning-danger-sign-situated-on-15718151.html

The red D plate  means decayed not defective if applied by the electric company

Section62

ROY47 said:

boots_babe said:

ROY47 said:

Google tells me this means 'defective' which makes sense 

is it like the one on this page ? scroll down the page to see thepicture of the D  does  it has similar  letters / numbers on it ?

https://www.britishtelephones.com/gpo/pole.htm 

Yes exactly that.

If it is exactly like that  it is BT / Openreach  only   not utility /electric pole   unless it also has

a yellow danger of death  plate on it?   If so it is both electric and Joint BT pole 

similar to this one

Both BT/Openreach and the electricity DNOs use identical/similar 'D' plates.  You cannot determine ownership of a pole by the presence of a 'D' alone.

Not all electicity poles have yellow danger of death signs on them (yet).  These are being rolled out and there are some locations where they are still absent.

I.e. an electicity (only) pole could have a red 'D' plate and no danger of death sign.

ROY47 said:

The red D plate  means decayed not defective

No, the 'D' stands for defective.  Decay is one possible cause for a pole to be defective, but there are others.  A 'D' could indicate that there was a danger - such as a spiky metal fence - which posed an unacceptable risk to operatives climbing a pole, and therefore alternative arrangements would need to be used.