Electric Co-ops Association Says Pole Rates Are No Barrier to Entry

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) representing over 900 electric cooperatives last week issued a white paper entitled: “Pole Attachment Policies and Issues, Broadband Deployment in Rural America Not Impeded by Pole Attachment Rates.” The NRECA, whose members control a 2.6 million mile distribution network, concluded in the report that charges by commercial operators of prohibitive and exorbitant rental rates on utility poles are “unfounded.”

“Electric cooperatives understand that communications service providers may need access to existing poles and rights-of-way to provide service,” said Brian O’Hara, Regulatory Director of NRECA, “and some have provided such access at cost-based rates to the considerable benefit of communications companies.”
The NRECA said in its paper that by leveraging the cooperatives’ existing distribution systems, communications companies avoid significant construction and maintenance costs, “generally paying modest cost-based annual fees to access these systems.” Despite this “tremendous benefit,” the NRECA stated, some for-profit communications companies contend that pole attachment rental rates charged by rural electric cooperatives prevent them from providing broadband services to rural communities. Continue Reading