A petition for reconsideration of the FCC's May 2010 pole attachment Order was filed by the Coalition of Concerned Utilities (composed of Allegheny Power, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., Dayton Power and Light Co., First Energy Corp., National Grid, NSTAR, PPL Electric Utilities, South Dakota Electric Utilities and Wisconsin Public Service Company) last week.

In the petition, the Coalition requests that the Commission reconsider its Order and clarify its final rules as follows:

1. This nondiscrimination requirement applies only to the extent that the pole owner has allowed itself or others to use boxing, bracketing and other attachment techniques for communications wires in the communications space;

2. Going forward, a pole owner should be free to impose new boxing and extension arm requirements regardless of what it may have allowed in the past; and

3. For poles that are jointly-owned by an ILEC and electric utility, each joint owner should be permitted to limit the extent to which boxing, bracketing and other attachment techniques are permitted on jointly-owned poles.

UTC and EEI yesterday filed detailed comments in opposition to the FCC proposals to change the pole attachment rules. In summary, the FCC's latest pole attachment proposals would further subsidize the communications industry at the expense of electric customers and would undermine the safety and reliability of the nation's electric grid; and, that’s not a great formula for success. Our major concerns are proposals for new "timelines for make ready," Allowing use of third party contractors for make ready, creation of a pole attachment database that would reveal the location of critical facilities, new compensatory damages for failure to strictly comply with the new rules, and low, sub-cable rates for telecommunications attachments. In too many instances, these proposals would put utilities in the position of either breaking the rules or putting the employees and customers at risk. We know what utilities will do and fervently believe it is wrong to penalize utilities for ensuring safety. Additionally, the proposal has the FCC, which takes great pride in regulatory transparency, continuing policies of hiding the cost of broadband deployment in utility customer bills. The UTC/EEI comments are worth reading for a good understanding of the current pole attachment debate. If you still have questions, contact Brett Kilbourne, Director of Regulatory Services & Associate Counsel UTC at 202.833.6807 or brett.kilbourne@utc.org.

Today, the FCC adopted an order and further rulemaking on pole attachments during its open commission meeting. The order adopts a general principle on nondiscrimination which gives attachers the right to use certain space and cost saving practices such as boxing and extension arms, wherever practical and consistent with utility standards for safety and reliability. Under this principle, "utilities must allow attachers to use the same attachment techniques that the utility itself uses in similar circumstances, although utilities retain the right to limit their use when necessary to ensure safety, reliability, and sound engineering." This non discrimination principle also applies to the timely processing of pole attachment permits and make ready. Read more »