You have probably seen them: two utility poles tied together, with one of them in bad shape.
Those mismatched pairs of utility poles are a familiar sight along Connecticut roads. Now, state lawmakers are considering Senate Bill 421, which aims to speed their removal, a process hampered by overlapping responsibilities among utility companies.
So-called “double poles” are left behind when a new pole is installed but the old one cannot be removed until each company with wires attached relocates its equipment. With multiple providers involved, including electric, cable and telecommunications companies, the process often drags on for months or years.
Local and state officials have been trying to do something about them but it appears to amount to a non-comedic “Who’s on first?” and “What’s on second?”
Because several companies have wires on each pole, the lines must come down in a specific order: electric lines at the top of the pole are moved first, then cable, internet and telephone providers each move their own equipment below. That process is where the trouble begins.
Now, the Energy and Technology Committee has advanced Senate Bill 421, which would require the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to create an electronic reporting system where residents can report double utility pole locations. The commissioner could require reports to include a photograph and a detailed description of the pole’s location.
Connecticut regulators have not been idle on the issue. In 2022, the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, or PURA, approved a pilot program using a mutually selected contractor to consolidate simple communications-line transfers at double-pole sites rather than requiring separate visits by each company. The effort has resulted in roughly 7,000 pole removals over two years, according to NBC Connecticut. Still, utilities told NBC Connecticut that more than 21,000 double poles remain statewide, with Eversource saying the vast majority are awaiting communications transfers, not electric work.
CWA Local 1298, a union representing telecommunications workers in Connecticut, also has a stake in the issue. The union sued PURA in late 2024 over agency decisions that it says require the use of third-party contractors for certain make-ready and single-visit-transfer work on damaged utility poles, arguing that the mandate interfered with its collective bargaining agreement with Frontier Communications.
“It’s a fine start but it doesn’t ultimately solve the problem because there is no central coordinator,” said state Rep. Nick Gauthier, D-Waterford, who represents Waterford and Montville and serves on the Energy and Technology Committee.
In his first year at the statehouse, he spoke with the government legislative director from Eversource and explained that a constituent had complained about a double pole that could fall onto his property.
“He was, like, ‘Oh yeah, that happens all the time. We own the poles but there are three other companies with lines attached to it. They have to remove them first,'” Gauthier said.
In that case, he said, it involved Frontier, Comcast and Breezeline. “Breezeline removed their wires, told Comcast they had done so. Comcast then removed theirs and told Frontier, which removed theirs and then Eversource removed theirs and the pole itself,” he said.
The answer, Gauthier said, is that there must be one person to coordinate this process.
Jim Case, a member and lobbyist for CWA Local 1298, said “an even easier way is essentially to allow the pole owner to do the work, remove the other companies’ lines and send those companies a bill.”
The Energy and Technology Committee held a public hearing on the bill on March 12 where Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, whose district includes Norwalk and Darien, submitted testimony saying that for the last 15 years he has led a fight to remove double poles in Norwalk.
“This issue got so bad that in 2019, I convened a working group of local utilities and Norwalk officials to help address this problem,” Duff’s testimony states. He added that progress was initially slow, especially during COVID-19, but the effort led to the removal of 147 poles in 2022 and 226 in 2023. In 2024, Norwalk joined the state pilot program.
“This pilot program has resulted in the removal of hundreds of additional double poles. Yet, as I look out the window of my home, double poles remain in Norwalk, 222 as of two weeks ago to be exact, and this is with my concerted efforts to address this issue,” he said.
Dave Weidlich Jr., president of CWA Local 1298, has been working on telephone poles for almost 42 years.
“Years ago, if a pole was broken, it was removed,” he said. “But now everybody’s on the pole. My solution would be to have the custodians given notice and, if you don’t show up, we’re gonna shift your stuff and bill them.”
The Energy and Technology Committee voted March 19 to send Senate Bill 421 to the floor as a joint favorable substitute, and it was filed with the Legislative Commissioners’ Office on March 20. The legislative session ends May 6.
In an email Friday, Duff said he hopes the bill will help the state more quickly address what he called a problem that is “both unsafe and unsightly.”
