power and cable lines - low over driveway

[Anonymous]

We live in an older neighborhood in NOVA/Fairfax, and the cable/power lines are above ground. The utility poll for several of the neighbors is in our front yard and the lines are very low across are yard and driveway. I have looked online - but have not been able to locate any regulations for the height. Does anyone know if there is a height requirement for utility lines over private property, or where I should look to find the information?

[Anonymous]

Our power lines were sagging lower and lower until they were laying on the roof. We had an electrician redo them, and he told us that they needed to be high above the roof at the point of entrance (either 3' or 4'), which would tend to keep them high above the yard and driveway.

[Anonymous]

OP - thanks! Our lines were buried before we purchased the house. And from PP, I believe the neighbors should elevate their lines - the topography does not help as there is a downward slope. I assume there are height requirements per county?

[Anonymous]

I would contact Dominion Power. They own the utility poles and other companies lease space on the poles to carry the signal. I suspect they would be more likely to respond to a repair request than the other companies. At the very least, they can make sure their lines are high enough. The topmost set of lines are electric lines. The lowest set are cable and the middle are usually telephone.

[Anonymous]

21:35 here -- definitely call Dominion. Maybe their pole is too short? When we called them, they told us that the connection from the pole to the house was not their problem, it was our problem. Possibly your neighbors might need to raise their lines, if they've fallen over time or if the code has changed, although I don't know how you could make them do it if they don't want to, it wasn't inexpensive when we did it. This is Fairfax, btw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:21:35 here -- definitely call Dominion. Maybe their pole is too short? When we called them, they told us that the connection from the pole to the house was not their problem, it was our problem. Possibly your neighbors might need to raise their lines, if they've fallen over time or if the code has changed, although I don't know how you could make them do it if they don't want to, it wasn't inexpensive when we did it. This is Fairfax, btw.

That's what she said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would contact Dominion Power. They own the utility poles and other companies lease space on the poles to carry the signal. I suspect they would be more likely to respond to a repair request than the other companies. At the very least, they can make sure their lines are high enough. The topmost set of lines are electric lines. The lowest set are cable and the middle are usually telephone.

+1

[Anonymous]

OP - I will follow up with Dominion. FWIW - the poll is in our yard and the lines to the neighbors go from the poll directly to the houses (typically the roof). Because of slope/full grown trees, the lines are much lower than I would expect code allows. E.g., we could not pull in a moving/contractor truck on the driveway without risk of touching/severing the lines. Thanks again for the advice!

[TwistdMike]

Google: NEC service clearance

Or, contact your local utility company. The code can be confusing on some cases.

https://www.mikeholt.com/mojonewsarchive/NEC-HTML/HTML/Article230-Services~20020219.htm

http://ecmweb.com/code-basics/article-230-services-part-2