State research record

New York pole attachment rules, in writing and dated.

Who regulates the pole you are attaching to in New York, what rate standard applies, where a dispute actually goes and whether cooperative and municipal poles are covered. This is the record we work from, published so you can read it yourself.

Record dated September 9, 2026 · certified under Section 224(c) · 16 authorities cited
The record

New York

New YorkNY

Certified under Section 224(c)Record dated September 9, 2026
Cooperative poles
No, and the exemption is written in the broadest terms on file. N.Y. Rural Electric Cooperative Law 67 makes cooperatives exempt in all respects from the jurisdiction and control of the Public Service Commission and not subject to the provisions of the public service law, which reaches PSL 119-a by its own terms, with no pole limb, no safety limb and no opt in; the annual report it requires confers nothing on an attacher. A cooperative pole is also outside 47 U.S.C. 224 by the cooperative exclusion in 224(a)(1). So a New York cooperative pole has no state forum, no federal forum and no rate ceiling except the attachment agreement and, where the owner takes a BEAD subgrant, the Section 13.D.1.e condition, which would bring the FCC rate formulas, the federal make ready timelines, one touch make ready and self help across that owner's footprint through a ConnectALL subgrantee agreement that has not been read. No constitutional commission overrides the exemption and no appellate decision construing it was located. The remedy is a contract action in court, under the six year limitation in CPLR 213(2)
Municipal poles
Not established, and it must not be answered either way. PSL 119-a says utility poles, never defines utility and has no owner class language. PSL 5(1)(b) reaches the persons or corporations operating an electric plant, the definitions of corporation and person in PSL 2(3) and 2(4) do not name a municipality, and where the legislature meant to exclude municipally owned utilities it said so, in PSL 2(14). Asked in Case 22-M-0101 to clarify tariff filing by municipal owned electric companies, the Commission called the request out of scope and declined to address it. Long Island Power Authority poles are a separate open question: the Commission refused to let PSEG Long Island, appearing for the Authority, ban pole top attachments outright, and whether that was an exercise of jurisdiction over an owner it does not rate regulate is unresolved. Read the attachment agreement and treat state coverage as open. No federally owned distribution pole owner was identified, and the New York Power Authority is a state authority, not a federal one
Rate standard
On investor owned electric and telephone poles, a Commission methodology inside a statutory band. PSL 119-a(1) bounds the rate between the additional cost of the attachment and the operating expenses and return on capital attributed to the portion of the pole used, which for cable television and broadband internet attachments is the share of usable space occupied. Inside that band the Commission applies the FCC cable formula through a fixed space factor set in Case 95-C-0341, Opinion No. 97-10, a 1997 order that the 2004 Pole Order misdates as 1977, and wireless attachments follow the wireline rate under Case 16-M-0330. The 2024 Order in Case 22-M-0101 left rates out of scope, and no New York per attachment rate figure was researched or is stated here. Unit costs are not negotiable, a make ready estimate binds for a period the Policy Statement fixes and owners may change make ready charges only at the interval and on the notice it fixes, a make ready invoice must show the date, description and location of the work, the unit or labor cost, itemized materials and any miscellaneous charges, the utility must prove any billed amount is owed, and overlashing may not be charged rent. PSL 119-a(3) bars charging any attacher for a replacement made to accommodate a request unless capacity, clearance or loading is insufficient, and PSL 119-a(2) bars charging a new attacher the entire cost of a replacement or compliance upgrade it did not solely necessitate. New York sets its own application review, survey, estimate and make ready clocks, and they are not the federal tiers and must not be merged with them. Self help is prohibited outright, though an attacher may hire an owner approved contractor when the owner misses the survey deadline, and one touch make ready covers only simple make ready in the communications space and yields to a collective bargaining agreement. Cooperative poles are contract only, and the municipal standard is not established
Where a dispute goes
The New York Public Service Commission, for investor owned electric and telephone poles, open to pole owners and attachers alike; New York is certified, so the FCC takes no New York complaint. The parties must first complete a company to company review, and the 2024 Order in Case 22-M-0101 removed the former Ombudsman step, effective 2024-07-22. The Commission then runs a defined complaint procedure, with its own periods for service, answer, reply and decision. During a cost dispute the work continues if the attacher pays a fixed share of the disputed invoice under protest, a 2004 Policy Statement rule that the 2024 Order does not repeat. No limitation period or filing deadline for a complaint exists anywhere in the regime, and the six year periods in CPLR 213 are court limitations, not a Commission deadline. Cooperative poles have only a contract action in court, and whether municipal and Long Island Power Authority poles reach the Commission is not established. New York names broadband internet in its rate rule and excludes no attacher class, so a broadband only provider or a public body building broadband is inside the regime on an investor owned pole. FCC DA 26-579 asks whether pre 1996 certifications cover telecommunications attachments; New York's statute has never named telecommunications service, and the date New York certified was not established
Confidence
High confidence on certification from DA 22-630 and DA 26-579, on PSL 119-a in its current and 2014 forms, PSL 2, PSL 5 and Rural Electric Cooperative Law 67, and on the 2004 Policy Statement and the 2024 Order in Case 22-M-0101, all read in full, including every state clock, the invoice content rule, the pay half rule and the self help prohibition, and on CPLR 213; Good confidence on the 1997 rate opinion and the wireless orders, which are taken from the 2024 Order's description, on the BEAD condition, which this run did not open, and on the party statement that the Commission lacks jurisdiction over cooperatives; Provisional on the absence of a constitutional commission and of appellate authority on Rural Electric Cooperative Law 67; Indicative only on New York's exposure to the pre 1996 certification question, whose filing date was not established, and on the absence of a federal pole owner. Municipal and Long Island Power Authority coverage is open and nothing is stated on it here. No New York rate figure was researched and none is stated here

AuthoritiesN.Y. Public Service Law 119-aN.Y. Public Service Law 2N.Y. Public Service Law 5N.Y. Rural Electric Cooperative Law 67N.Y. CPLR 213L.2021, ch.723L.2022, ch.68NYPSC Case 03-M-0432NYPSC Case 22-M-0101NYPSC Case 95-C-0341, Opinion No. 97-10NYPSC Case 16-M-033047 U.S.C. 22447 CFR 1.1405(a)FCC DA 22-630FCC DA 26-579NTIA BEAD General Terms and Conditions Section 13.D.1.e

Read the chip above as one fact and no more: whether New York has certified under Section 224(c) that it regulates pole attachments itself. It does not settle your pole. Cooperative and municipal poles sit outside federal jurisdiction whether or not a state has certified, so the two owner class lines are the ones that answer the question for the invoice in front of you.

This record is worked from the statute and the order that made it rather than from a summary of one. The confidence line is tied to its source: where a conclusion rests on weaker ground the record says so, because a hedge you can see is what makes the confident answers worth believing. The method is set out in how PoleProof researches and verifies, and how a cleared rule enters an audit is on the methodology page.

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This is general information about the rules and it is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for your own counsel on a specific dispute. PoleProof is not a law firm. PoleProof performs financial and cost review of what you have been billed rather than engineering evaluation of what the pole owner determined was necessary. Rules change, and this record carries the date it was worked so you can see how current it is.

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