Joint Use

Balch & Bingham has been representing electric utility clients in regulatory matters, litigated disputes and contract negotiations since its inception. A natural outgrowth of this representation was significant work in the context of the unique, often heavily regulated relationship between electric utilities (as pole owners) and cable/communications companies (as third-party attachers). Through the years, Balch & Bingham attorneys have advocated the interests of electric utility clients on joint use and pole attachment matters before state and federal regulatory bodies, in contract negotiations with attachers, and at the trial and appellate levels in both state and federal courts. Balch & Bingham attorneys also work as “team members” with joint use professionals on a wide variety of issues, ranging from day-to-day counseling to long term planning.

Balch & Bingham understands how joint use fits into a utility’s portfolio from a business, regulatory, engineering and political perspective. Specific areas of joint use practice include the following:

Contract Negotiation
FCC Complaint Proceedings
Rulemaking Comments/Evidence
Audit Planning/Implementation
Standards Development
Contract Management
Collection Actions
Rate Strategies
Trial and Appellate Work
Process Implementation

Joint use is a dynamic area of law. Since the 1996 Telecom Act, there have been significant changes in both the legal and business relationships between investor-owned electric utilities and communications companies. Balch & Bingham works with its joint use clients to navigate the regulatory maze in a way that comports with the business strategies and objectives of our clients. Balch & Bingham looks for opportunities to maximize joint use revenue and protect the company’s distribution assets (and telecom interests, where applicable) while evaluating the risk/reward of certain actions.

Different utilities have different priorities. What may be a “hot” issue to one utility may be a non-issue to another. From our perspective, the “hot” issues are the issues which are, or soon may be, important to our clients. The issues we are currently following on a national level include:

The multitude of engineering issues presented by the Fibertech rulemaking petition, the potential impact on electric utilities, and the response strategy in the event a notice of proposed rulemaking is released;
The legislative initiatives and lobbying efforts from various interest groups, as well as the USTA’s effort to “legislate” through FCC rulemaking;
The capacity expansion issue;
The deployment of BPL and the impact of BPL on pole access; and
The regulatory classification of VOIP.