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So the other day I received a letter in the post from PCC (addressed to the Occupier), telling me that there were underground electricity lines operating under my property, and that the company using them should have an agreement in place and be making a payment to me for such an agreement. As you can imagine, this was all news to me.
Iv'e lived here about 13 years and having worked extensively in the garden, landscaping etc, i've seen no evidence of cabling. In fact it's hard to see where any could even be based on my location. Apparently I should be receiving £150.04 as rent every 15 years. I should point out that I am on the electricity grid, but I don't think they are talking about that connection.
Now obviously my initial reaction was some sort of scam, but I checked out the PCC website and it does appear to have a whiff of legitimacy about it. The deal is I fill in the form and they do all the work with the power company then I get a cheque. Or something like that.
Now i'm fortunate that I'm not desperate for £150.04, but I am keen to not be putting a spade through anything I shouldn't, so i'm intrigued enough to find out a bit more
Has anyone seen this sort of thing before?
Spam. We get one every few months. There are no cables.
There are no cables.
What? Really? I'm shocked
The deal is I fill in the form and they do all the work with the power company then I get a cheque.
they do all that for free? You should at get them a packet of biscuits or something.
It'll be a wayleave agreement, where a services company pays a kind of rental for using your property to run (usually) electricity cables to another property. We have a legal company doing exactly this for us at the moment as a mains supply runs from a telegraph pole across the front of our house to nextdoor.
They take a small percentage of the wayleave for doing the work and once it's in place the energy company should pay it every 15 years.
The amount paid out is dependant on what type of service is being supplied but any money for very little work is worth it I reckon.
I've checked out the company doing ours and it's completely legit.
We decided against accepting tuppence-ish a year (which is also binding on any future owners of our house) to give up any/all our rights regarding the lines crossing our property.
Without a wayleave, there is the possibility we (or a future owner) could force Western Power and Open Reach to re-route around our land instead of across it... if they were bothered. The lines probably should be, anyway, as they are too close to the corner of our house according to the law - which is useful to know when they start tapping on the roof because they've sagged a little. Open Reach got their finger out once I referenced the law regarding closest allowable distance to a building, and mentioned that I wouldn't care about following that up if the bloody thing just stopped randomly tapping every slightly windy night.
Oh, and if you want to sign up to one, just contact whoever the lines belong to, they'll be happy to send you a form to do it yourselves, seems most companies have a dedicated department for it.
I’m shocked
How can you be? There are no cables.
Pro tip... Never answer unsolicited calls. If it's something important they will leave a coherent voicemail.
I've just had PCC write to me. I already knew I have a HV cable buried across the property and fairly well where... accurate enough to know where I need to be careful.
My brother has a couple of telegraph poles so know a little about wayleaves and have therefore never been interested in seeking a few quid a year. I'm questioning myself though....pcc must have spent 5+ years worth of their possible 20% fee just on the stamp, envelope and paper..... how would they make any money out of this?
Pro tip… Never answer unsolicited calls.
Pro tip . . . This doesn’t necessarily apply to unsolicited letters through the post.