Can I deny a neighbor access to my powerline

[HelpinMN]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MN

I own a piece of property that I am in the process of deciding to build off grid or pay to have power brought out. Now I have a neighbor that is further from the main road then me, he has been trying to convince the other people in the area to get power brought out for a couple of years because he doesn't want to pay for it. He won't even bother to properly fix the easement that goes by my property to his because he is waiting for someone else to do it for him (I've owned the property for about a year he's had his for about 6). Once he found out I was just going to do it he took a bulldozer through the edge of my property (off the easement) and through a bunch of wetlands. So long story short hes an idiot.

My problem is I'm going to be really irritated if I spend $20k to have power brought 3/4 of a mile to my property and he just shows up and pays a couple grand to bring it to his off of my line. Is there any way that I can deny him access to my line?

 

[drewguy]

Is there an easement for a powerline across your property? If you bring power to a point where he can tap in and run to his property across a valid easement for the purposes of utilities*, then the only issue is whether there's some other law regarding cost sharing.

Why can't you all agree to split the cost, including this neighbor?

*If the easement is solely for access (for example, vehicular access) then it probably would not entitle him to run utilities down it. Of course you could sell him that right to recover the cost you bore in bringing the electricity.

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MN

I own a piece of property that I am in the process of deciding to build off grid or pay to have power brought out. Now I have a neighbor that is further from the main road then me, he has been trying to convince the other people in the area to get power brought out for a couple of years because he doesn't want to pay for it. He won't even bother to properly fix the easement that goes by my property to his because he is waiting for someone else to do it for him (I've owned the property for about a year he's had his for about 6). Once he found out I was just going to do it he took a bulldozer through the edge of my property (off the easement) and through a bunch of wetlands. So long story short hes an idiot.

My problem is I'm going to be really irritated if I spend $20k to have power brought 3/4 of a mile to my property and he just shows up and pays a couple grand to bring it to his off of my line. Is there any way that I can deny him access to my line?

**A: is the power company involved in any way?

 

[154NH773]

There are usually set recompense rates for sharing in a line paid for by someone else. Check with the power company. They should be able to tell you what he would have to pay you. There is usually a time limit, so if he waits long enough he may not have to pay at all.

If the lines are on public property (highway right-of-way), or on an easement in favor of the power company, then you have no right to block his connecting, but will probably get some of your cost returned.

My neighbors gave me a hard time, so I paid to go underground from the last pole, about 1000 feet to my property. Since I installed the pipe, it belongs to me and my neighbor may not disturb it. The wires belong to the utility company, but the pipe is mine, so the utility company may not tap in to it. I also made sure the transformer was not within the right-of-way at my property, and wrote the utility easement for the transformer to preclude my neighbors from connecting there. The utility tariffs (regulations) do not allow above-ground service into an area already served by underground, so my neighbors, if they ever develop their properties, will have to either pay me WHATEVER I ask to connect to MY pipe, or they will have to go underground from the last pole, without disturbing my service.

So, if you want to pay for underground installation, that's one way to keep him off your lines. The cost to go underground was about 10 times the cost of overhead, but to me it was well worth it.

drewguy: If the easement is solely for access (for example, vehicular access) then it probably would not entitle him to run utilities down it.

In New Hampshire there is caselaw that states that an access easement infers a utility easement. Might be the same in MN.

 

[FarmerJ]

find out from the elect utility if you can do it this way , Say your home sits back 2000ft from nearest pole owned by the util co can you go privately owned line, (install) from your home all the way out to where you would have to connect to lines they own , instead of them extending the lines to you? Reason being that if you put in a underground line and own it all thew way out to where it meets current lines util owns there is no way the other nbr should be able to force you to permit them connection and would have to pay for own all the way down.

 

[HelpinMN]

re

The problem is that he refuses to pay anything other then to run the line from my property to his. when I asked him he just said he wasn't sure if he wanted to run power out there, but a couple of the neighbors said he has been talking for years about hoping someone buys my property and runs power to it so he can hook up to it.

The power company will pay me if he hooks up but its a nominal amount, something like $2500 and only for the first 5 years.

I will have to check about the easement, my understanding is that its just a standard non public easement (only for the land owners).

I will also check about going underground, I do know that it is the same price (like $5.50 per foot) as running above ground.

 

[justalayman]

the thing that I have not seen explained is:

is there a way for him to string the power lines from the service poles you are considering having put in to his house while remaining within any easement or over his private property only.

He cannot run the power across your property where there is no easement and you do not have to grant an easement to allow it.

 

[HelpinMN]

re

Basically from the road there are 4x40 acre parcels, the first two are owned by one guy the third by me and the fourth by him, the easement goes right down the side of all 4, so if I use my easement on the first two he could just tie into that at the corner of my property and would just have to pay to get across my property (on his easement).

But that actually gives me a way to work it. I could get the first neighbor (who doesn't really want the other neighbor to get the power) to grant me an easement to run it down the other side of his 80 where only I would have the easement. He might actually go for that.

 

[154NH773]

I will also check about going underground, I do know that it is the same price (like $5.50 per foot) as running above ground.

The cost for the utility to run the wire may be the same, however, you will have to pay the cost of the trench and conduit, which can be considerable. It cost me about $15 per foot for the installation (trench and conduit).

But that actually gives me a way to work it. I could get the first neighbor (who doesn't really want the other neighbor to get the power) to grant me an easement to run it down the other side of his 80 where only I would have the easement. He might actually go for that.

This would only work if you can get the utility to accept an easement that blocks the other neighbor. The utility company will probably write the easement allowing them complete access, including additional hookups. You will have to have a lawyer check the easement language to ensure it accomplishes what you want. You can rewrite it (I rewrote mine).

 

[drewguy]

Basically from the road there are 4x40 acre parcels, the first two are owned by one guy the third by me and the fourth by him, the easement goes right down the side of all 4, so if I use my easement on the first two he could just tie into that at the corner of my property and would just have to pay to get across my property (on his easement).

Well, he still has to go the length of your property. So he ends up paying 1/3 of the total cost of getting electricity to his property (assuming the parcels all have equal frontage on the easement) and you pay 2/3.

What would be an equitable allocation in your mind? 50/50? Perhaps he should pay 2/3, because he has to go further (i.e., you split the common distance and he pays the extra to go to his house). So he's either getting 1/3 or 1/6 of the cost off of you, which isn't insignificant, but isn't huge either. The cost of gaming it out of spite may be more than the cost once you net out the required compensation.

 

[HelpinMN]

re

I was more then willing to just split it with him because I am going about 2/3 through my property so he only needed to run it a few hundred feet if he goes off of mine, I did the math and it ended up being like $19,xxx to me and $2300 to him.

The other benefit of going off grid is that he may just up and sell the place because he wants paved access and power but won't pay for it and none of the neighbors are going to. So I might just offer him what he paid for the place (like 25k) and then all the other neighbors will love me because I got rid of him.

 

[154NH773]

Actually, the last person should have to pay the most, since he is utilizing the entire installed length, and those tapping off earlier are using less of the total installed length. It is easily calculated using a Shapely Distribution (statistical method). The utility company's method of sharing the cost is unfair, and I would argue against using their method.

 

[justalayman]

Actually, the last person should have to pay the most, since he is utilizing the entire installed length, and those tapping off earlier are using less of the total installed length. It is easily calculated using a Shapely Distribution (statistical method). The utility company's method of sharing the cost is unfair, and I would argue against using their method.

but the problem is: the utility company is an innocent party in this. They actually have no obligation to charge the 4th in line anything other than what it takes to get the power from OP's lot to their lot.

OP would more properly have a claim of unjust enrichment against his neighbor.

 

[154NH773]

the utility company is an innocent party in this. They actually have no obligation to charge the 4th in line anything other than what it takes to get the power from OP's lot to their lot.

I'm not sure that is completely true. It's been several years since I looked into this, but the tariffs (rules regulating the utilitiy) may spell out compensation when one person pays for a long distance of an installation, and then someone taps in or only adds a short extension. The problem is that the tariffs are unfair, as the OP has discovered, and the compensation disappears after 5 or so years, so the neighbors can tap in then without sharing in the initial cost of the installation.

That's why I said to go underground. The OP would then control the access to the line, and could set any compensation he wanted. That's what I did, and wait until they want to tap in...$$$$$.

 

[justalayman]

What makes you believe there would be any difference between running overhead or below ground? Depending on the distance, there is a good possibility the utility will set a pad mount transformer in the utility easement which would provide a point of connection for the last property.

Even if they didn't, in the future the utility could dig up the feed and tap it to feed the remaining lot.

It's not like running underground would really change anything. They are still required to run down the utility easement which makes it accessible to them in the future should they need to attach to it.