House panel approves utility pole regulation bill
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Electric utilities want it. Telecom companies don t.
If a power company and an internet or cable TV provider bicker over using the same utility poles, or just planting a second set, Florida could have something to say under a bill that cleared a House panel Wednesday.
By a 12-2 vote, the House State Administration & Technology Appropriations Subcommittee approved Republican Rep.
Nick
DiCeglie‘s
HB 1567 Wednesday. It would transfer authority over those utility pole connections and the companies’ occasional disputes from the feds to Florida.
Such disputes only come about when power companies and telecommunications companies working the same communities can’t work out contracts to use the same poles. That results in either some communities being “double poled,” or legal fights that wind up being decided by the Federal Communications Commission.