If wires come down in your backyard, who do you call?

Twin Cities Suburbs

In Minnesota, fixing power lines is as easy as a call to the power company, but other unmarked television, phone or internet wires are more of a mystery.

By Matt McKinney

After a storm dropped a tree in her backyard, Cottage Grove resident Beth Sauder was left with downed communications wires and a seemingly unsolvable mystery: Who owns these things?

She still didn’t know after 4½ hours on the phone, but she knew she had had enough, and made an appointment to speak at the next City Council meeting.

“I have no idea who owns those wires,” she told the City Council during its public comment session last month.

Abandoned and unidentified wires overhead can be a problem in urban areas after decades of utility workers scaling up ladders to string a variety of cable television, landline phones, and various data cables to houses, only to see some of the cables fall into disuse as streaming services and cell phones took over.

The cables typically aren’t clearly marked, and if a storm leaves downed wires near your house, it can be nearly impossible to know who to call. There’s no central authority like the Gopher State One Call service at 811, which is recommended for people about to dig in their yards to prevent them from hitting underground utilities or gas lines. And some of the companies that strung up the cables might not serve the area anymore — or even be in business.

In an online chat, frustrated homeowners vented on Reddit about pre-emptively cutting down the phone cables themselves. “Mine ‘fell’ off my house,” said one commenter. “I coiled it up and left it by the pole.“ Others chimed in with similar stories.

Afton Mayor Bill Palmquist said a resident in his city had downed wires in her yard after a recent storm, and city officials had to step in to help out, he said.

“The issue resonates here because it’s very hard to get someone on the phone if it’s not power,” he said.

If the downed cable is a power line, the problem’s not nearly as acute: Power lines like those belonging to Xcel Energy are closely monitored by the company. If one goes down, Xcel often knows about it, but the company still encourages people to call in, said spokesman Kevin Coss.

The company regularly inspects and replaces overhead power lines to make them resilient, but “severe storms and other weather impacts can still sometimes bring down well-maintained power lines, especially when high winds snap nearby trees or tree branches and cause them to fall into the lines,” said Koss. “If homeowners see fallen lines on their property, we urge them to steer clear. Assume all power lines are still energized, even if they have fallen, and keep a safe distance away.”

In Minneapolis, city residents can call 311 to report a downed line, said city spokesman Allen Henry. The message will get forwarded to city staff, likely in the Public Works department, to determine if it’s a power line or not.

Stillwater Public Works Director Shawn Sanders said residents could check their invoices from telecommunications companies they’ve bought service from — think CenturyLink, Comcast or others — for a number to call.

Lake Elmo Public Works Director Marty Powers said power lines are generally at the top of power poles and communications lines lower down, but a homeowner could do a Google search to see which provider is operating in their area or has service at their address. In Lake Elmo, it could be Comcast, Lingo Communications or CenturyLink, but doing a Google search first might show the resident that one or two of the companies doesn’t serve their house and make it easier to know who to contact.

“I have only had two or three inquiries in Lake Elmo over the past five years, but, yes, identifying overhead wires can be challenging,” he said.

In Cottage Grove, Public Works Director Ryan Burfeind said some confusion about downed communications lines comes up each year, and the city typically responds by reaching out to the telecommunications companies directly.

“We do have contacts with those companies,” he said. “We just email or reach out to their communications manager.”

At the Cottage Grove City Council meeting, Sauder’s problem of downed wires was passed along to City Administrator Jennifer Levitt, who said the city would help out: “We will hunt down that private utility and get that addressed.”

Cottage Grove Mayor Myron Bailey added: “You’re not the first one that we’ve had these conversations with.”

Matt McKinney is a reporter on the Star Tribune's state team. In 15 years at the Star Tribune, he has covered business, agriculture and crime.

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