Virginia Expands Regulation of Electric Cooperative Pole Attachments
April 22, 2024
The Virginia General Assembly, in its 2024 legislative session, passed legislation reforming Virginia’s regulation of pole attachments on utility poles owned by Virginia electric cooperatives. Specifically, the General Assembly enacted SB713, which, among other things, incorporates new provisions into Virginia Code § 56-466.1 that are taken from the Federal Communication Commission’s (“FCC”) rules applicable only to poles owned by investor-owned utilities.
Effective July 1, 2024, the new provisions of Virginia Code § 56-466.1 fundamentally change the pole attachment process for new attachments on electric cooperative-owned poles by, among other things, (1) establishing mandatory make-ready practices and procedures, (2) prescribing allocation of pole replacement cost, and (3) broadening Virginia State Corporation Commission (“Commission”) authority over attachments on poles owned by Virginia electric cooperatives.
Click here to read the full Utilities & Telecommunications Update.
If you have any questions, please contact authors Cody Murphey at 804.788.7765 or cmurphey@eckertseamans.com, or Eric Page at 804.788.7740 or epage@eckertseamans.com, or any other attorney at Eckert Seamans with whom you have been working.
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