By Tre Spencer
Mountain State Spotlight
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West Virginia utility regulators have handed down a new order aimed at fixing the state’s largest roadblock to broadband: the fight over aging poles.
Last month, the West Virginia Public Service Commission established new annual reporting requirements for utilities and created a new database for pole information.
The statewide database will track the condition of utility poles, including their age, height and location. That information could help identify which poles need to be replaced before broadband construction begins.
These are some of the strongest actions the PSC has taken to require more from power companies, who have repeatedly objected to recommendations from state broadband officials and internet providers.
American Electric Power and FirstEnergy together own over a million poles in the state, and many are in poor condition or lack the space to hold fiber broadband cables.
The order follows months of closed-door deliberations and hearings between state broadband officials, regulators and utility company representatives over how to handle the state’s aging utility poles and who would foot the bill to replace them.
However, the state’s pole attachment laws remain unchanged. Regulators asked a working group of industry and broadband leaders to recommend changes.
“West Virginians are waiting for broadband,” PSC Chairman Charlotte Lane said during a recent hearing. “The people in this room can make it happen or be part of the problem.”
Utility and internet companies must work together to connect homes and businesses with high-speed internet. But internet providers have described frustrations over project delays and high costs imposed by utility companies over the poles.
In turn, power companies have pushed back, saying they lack the manpower and funding to handle the overwhelming demand for pole upgrades.
These disputes have forced state regulators to step in, ahead of a $1.2 billion effort to get broadband to every West Virginian.
New reporting requirements, database and working group
The commission established a Pole Attachment Working Group comprised of PSC staff, contractors, engineers, utilities, state broadband experts and internet providers.
Together, the group will advise state regulators on federal and state laws related to broadband and pole attachments, and is required to meet every three months.
While AEP supported the creation of the group, it objected to having PSC staff members participate. FirstEnergy opposed the group entirely, saying it would “take resources away” from staff who review and approve pole attachment requests.
The working group is required to submit a draft of recommendations to the PSC outlining how the state can specifically change its pole attachment laws to speed up broadband projects, which will be reviewed within the next two months.
But representatives from AEP and FirstEnergy pushed back, estimating the database would cost between $29 and $36 million for each company to collect data for each pole that it didn’t already have. On average, both companies inspect a pole once every 10 years.
Despite that, the PSC will require both companies to submit a report by September 1 that includes information about the funding and labor needed to compile additional data.
Starting next year, the PSC will also impose new annual reporting requirements on pole owners.
Utilities will have to tell regulators how many broadband-related attachment requests they receive, how many poles were requested and how many projects were completed.
Reach reporter Tre Spencer at tre@mountainstatespotlight.org
