Right of Way

[tom2959]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania
Right of Way question

I have a Right of Way (ROW) that was signed by my grandparents in 1936 for electrical service. It’s in rural northeast Pennsylvania. In 2011, someone came in and ran a fiber optic cable along the electric poles. The terms of the ROW are old (like 80 years ago) and somewhat vague. The fiber optic cable has Level 3 Corporation’s name on it and has something to do with emergency management/911 and the current electrical company in First Energy.

“Together with the right to enter and erect, extend, inspect, operate, replace, repair, and perpetually maintain a line of poles with necessary wires, cross arms, guy wires, push braces and other usual fixtures and appurtenances it may be necessary for the convenient transaction of its business.”


a. Clearly, fiber optic was not an issue in 1936.
b. What does “necessary for the convenient transaction of its business” mean?
c. The original and current ROW owner is clearly an electric company.
d. There is a line of telephone poles on the other side of the road, thus all services are not combined.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania
Right of Way question

I have a Right of Way (ROW) that was signed by my grandparents in 1936 for electrical service. It’s in rural northeast Pennsylvania. In 2011, someone came in and ran a fiber optic cable along the electric poles. The terms of the ROW are old (like 80 years ago) and somewhat vague. The fiber optic cable has Level 3 Corporation’s name on it and has something to do with emergency management/911 and the current electrical company in First Energy.

“Together with the right to enter and erect, extend, inspect, operate, replace, repair, and perpetually maintain a line of poles with necessary wires, cross arms, guy wires, push braces and other usual fixtures and appurtenances it may be necessary for the convenient transaction of its business.”


a. Clearly, fiber optic was not an issue in 1936.
b. What does “necessary for the convenient transaction of its business” mean?
c. The original and current ROW owner is clearly an electric company.
d. There is a line of telephone poles on the other side of the road, thus all services are not combined.

It means that whatever is necessary to provide electrical service is fair game. The line of telephone poles on the other side of the road probably do not provide different service, but rather service to different homes and businesses.

What is the backstory behind your question? What are you hoping to accomplish?

 

[FarmerJ]

Newer utility services often use the same easements that were granted to other utilities and unless the original easement to the electric company was written in such a way that its use was worded to be restricted only to the electric company then its likely just one of them things to have to deal with. ( On the way home from work this morning there was a town I passed through that is now getting fiber optic run thru it, ( { I stopped and asked one of the guys working on it} so that is going to be the fourth thing with in the easement in those peoples yards , they already had poles for power and catv/ broadband and telephone co boxes in those yards ) and its not likely the fiber optic line had a new easement but more likely were using what was originally the same easement that the electric or telephone company had)