Skip to content

Be prepared for storm season. Safety tips and videos

Home › Accounts › Electrical connections › Customer owned poles

Customer owned poles

You may be required to install a private pole on your property in order to receive electrical service. Please contact BC Hydro's Electric Service Coordination Centre at 1 877 520 1355 to discuss options for your service.

Circumstances when a customer-owned pole is needed

  • Service wire will be longer than 30 metres (100 feet) from BC Hydro's point of connection to the service location
  • Service wire will create an aerial trespass over a neighbour's property
  • You wish to have underground service in an area where BC Hydro provides overhead services

Pole requirements

  • Full length, pressure treated, class 6 or higher
  • Minimum diameter at top: 5.5 inches
  • Minimum diameter 6 feet from butt: 9 inches
  • Gain mark 12 feet from butt
  • Near the top of the pole, insert a bolt through the clevis

Installation requirements

Customer-owned poles with utility services must be accessible by a bucket truck with a relatively even and driveable surface, and be within 3 meters of a lane or roadway.

For holes in normal ground or loose rock:

  • Minimum 5 feet for a pole of 30 feet or less; or,
  • 10 per cent total height of pole plus 2 feet for poles longer than 30 feet

For poles set in rock, the depth may be one foot less than the requirements for normal ground or loose rock.

Call before you dig

To avoid serious danger to workers, it’s important to know what services are buried in or near your work site. BC One Call provides information about the underground services on your work site and where it’s safe to dig. Visit BC One Call for more information or call 1 800 474 6886.