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Tuesday, July 16, 2019
Question:
Re: CQD answer published Tuesday, July 9, 2019 -Broken Light Pole
1) My suggestion is to check safety codes of the city and state. I would strongly suggest she hit the utility where it hurts. In the pocketbook. The lady asking the question should question the city about whether the utility has adjusted the billing to the city since they are not providing the services they are billing for. Dave Goetz
2) Mike (assuming you are still there), and the rest of the Charlie Trout team, thanks for your great service to the electrical industry. This is in response to Monday, July 8, 2019 answer. Yep, I am a utility guy. It is interesting to note that very large number of REMCs and municipal utilities are not covered by the National Electrical Safety Code nor are they controlled by the public service commission in their state. Most will follow the NESC but there may be no laws that require them to follow it. In addition, the electric utilities that are required to follow the NESC, their state may not adopt the current edition (The State of Indiana’s current adopted NESC is the 2002 edition). I have a hard time believing that any electric utility would be as unresponsive and callused as this one seems to be especially where public safety is concerned. I am not aware of any portion of the NESC that permits bare exposed live conductors to just be covered with a traffic cone and call it good. In my opinion, contact in order
the outage/trouble department of the electric utility
the underground line department
the safety department
call 911
contact the public service commission in writing to file a formal complaint
Calling 911 first is like attempting to use a sledge hammer to drive a tack. However, it may take a sledge hammer to get their attention. The first call should get their attention if the call is to the correct location in the company.
Take Care, Charlie Eldridge
A
Answer:
Hey Dave and Charlie thanks for your comments and the compliment. The question indicated that the pole had been hit 3 months ago and the utility had not fixed it after being contacted several times. The lack of illumination is one issue but the electrical hazard is more significant. I agree contacting the utility first is appropriate but it seemed time for a different approach, thanks for the order of contact suggestions, it might help others in similar situations.