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Studies have shown that all poles age and decay over time. Of course, many factors can increase or decrease that rate. Temperature, Moisture, Species of wood, Factory Treatment, in place treatment, Insects, Minerals in the soil and Location can all play a role. Whether your poles are in decay zone 1 or decay zone 5. All decay zones have areas within that zone which will fall in a different decay zone whether a higher zone or a lower zone. It’s a FACT all poles decay over time or else your power poles from the factory would not have any treatment on them.

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Each year pole owners spend millions of dollars replacing wood poles. Poles that are standing and in service have been paid for already and are producing revenue for the utility.  Why not inspect and treat an existing asset to keep the pole in service generating revenue for as long as possible? 10, 15, 20 or more years. 

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You say cost?

First ask yourself a couple of questions. How long are my poles lasting? What is the true cost of a pole replacement? Is my replacement pole the same equivalent as the pole I am replacing it with?  Species, size, treatment?

 

The largest cost to a utility during a pole inspection and treatment program is the cost of labor to dig and inspect the pole. Treatment in general only adds a few dollars to the overall cost per pole. The major factors that go into pricing a pole inspection job are Location, Lodging, and Travel Time. Treatment is a simple adder at the end.

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Yes, a pole inspection and treatment program has a higher initial cost due to higher reject rates. Overtime reject rates will fall. You will have a more reliable system, Less failures, Less outages and less risk to the public.

  

Here is a true example of reject rates. 2nd cycle inspection and treatment first cycle 16% reject rate on 2,000 poles. 2017 13 year second cycle we inspected and treated the same poles 2000 poles finding 6 rejects. Over time a program does pay for itself.