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I'm really surprised the cop did not arrest you for trespassing. Just because you work for the power company does not give you permission to hop the fence.
Same thing with repo guys.
It is not like you are walking up the drive way to tell home owner why you are on their property.
Repo guys, do not have the right to trespass. But easement owners own the right to cross the property within their easement or to access it by the most feasible method.
You still do not understand property right laws. In t he case of utility easements, the utility company OWNS THE RIGHT, to access the property at any time to check their property. It is a deeded right to hop the fence to access their property. It is even possible, if they need to cut open the fence to drive their equipment to some of their equipment to repair it etc., they can cut the fence open to do so. The land owner, is not allowed to prevent them from entering the property. Fencing them out and not letting the easement owner access to the property is against the law and can get you in serious legal trouble.
Every developed property in a town/city, has more than one owner. Owner of record who lives in the home is one. And the utility line holders are another, and this may include several owners one for each utility. Some cities have the sidewalk within the deeded property, and the public has the right to walk down the sidewalk, kids skate and bike down your property as long as they stay on the sidewalk, etc. And you will be required by law, to put in and maintain the sidewalk as it passes over your property to prevent people getting hurt on your property. If you don't and someone gets hurt, you can be sued and you will lose in court, with the only thing unknown is how much the judgement against you will be.
People on these threads, are complaining that the postman cuts across their yard, lawn and flower gardens to deliver mail rather than staying on sidewalks. This is O.K. by federal law, so the postman can cover a much larger area and more homes by cutting across the yards, rather than walking in and out from the home on the sidewalks in areas where they still have to the home delivery. In cluster mail box areas, the post office is given a right when the subdivision is established to have those mail boxes on some of t he properties, and it is a deeded right.
I don't even know what a "door knocker" is in this context but I would not be hopping fences. What a stupid policy.
Are you saying people have locked entry WITHOUT an intercom or utility lock or anything?
snip
Don't they have electric and gas meters that have to be read in Texas? How do they do THAT every month? Hopping fences? LOL
A "door knocker" means a door hang tag giving notice of the visit.
Most chain link fence gates do not need an intercom. Only utility lock I am familiar with is the TSA lock for your luggage. lol
Before smart meters and communicating meters, the readers would either enter the property (jump fence or unlocked gates) or use a telescope from a safe vantage point. Most were concerned with dogs, not so much guns.
As long as the visit is in the daytime, you do not have to worry much about the castle laws giving sanction to the homeowner shooting you. IF they do, it will be completely illegal and you will win in court.....assuming you live to show up in court.
Jumping a locked gate can be trespassing if the property is posted, even with a utility easement. The easement gives you permission to have utilities on site and work on them as needed, but you still have to access the property legally. Usually the easement will have language allowing the PUC to temporarily remove fences to allow equipment into the easement. That egress is limited to the easement area, however, not the general property.
You are incorrect. When statutes (or 'laws' if you prefer) contradict one another, which law reigns supreme?
From the Declaration of Independence
Didn't see it mentioned but I find it odd people think the declaration of independence is a legal document. It is just a declaration. Even if it was a legal document, it was from before the country was founded as the U.S. so it doesnt hold up in current courts.
As for the OP, I don't see how the company policy is illegal, just do it safely whatever that means. But it being Texas wouldn't matter since you can get shoot anywhere in the country. Wished realtors/companies forced people to attend class on deed rights when buying or renting things so they would at one point in time "learn" these, then go and disregard it in the future.
Skipped several pages but for me the issue isn't what right the guy has to access the easement. The issue is leaving a doorknocker and jumping my fence. A uniform is not hard to fake and I don't know that isn't someone faking it to break into my home and do me harm or steal from me. I mean honestly, if someone realizes that the utilities are encouraging employees to jump fences then how hard would it be for a criminal to take advantage of that.
And I would be calling the police. WITH a gun in my hand.
Jumping a locked gate can be trespassing if the property is posted, even with a utility easement. The easement gives you permission to have utilities on site and work on them as needed, but you still have to access the property legally. Usually the easement will have language allowing the PUC to temporarily remove fences to allow equipment into the easement. That egress is limited to the easement area, however, not the general property.
Wrong on the jumping fence. The utility owns the easement, and if there is a fence in the way they can go over or under the fence, as they own the right to access and pass over their property (the area involved in the easement).
Understand: A utility company can access the easement area of a property 24/7, and it is not trespassing. They own the right to do so to get to pass over their easement. They have that right, and can jump a fence, open a hole in the fence, cut a lock off a gate, or anything else required for them to access the property. Most utility companies notify the owner in advance they will be entering the property, except in time of emergency when they have a sudden need to use the easement area of the landowners property.
If it is an underground electric, gas, or water easement, the property owner cannot build a home or other structure over the easement, cannot plant trees that may endanger the utility company property, as an example as the utility company owns the easement area. It has to be kept available to the utility company to access any part of their underground property (the electric, gas, or water lines).
If there is a gate needed to enter the easement area and you put a lock on the gate, in Texas and about anywhere else, the utility company can cut the lock off the gate to access the property.
If the property is fenced so there is no access to the easement, the utility can just remove that section of the fence to bring equipment onto the property.
If the landowner tries to keep them off of the easement, they just call the sheriff who will send a deputy(s) to enforce the utility companies rights to use the easement area of the property, and if the landowner does not cooperate, the sheriff may arrest the property owner for obstructing them.
Does anyone know if utility easements are shown on property titles in Alabama? I know there is an easement on mine for a land owner behind me but there is nothing for the power company. They do not have a pole on my property but of course they have a meter on my house.
They have the right to go to the meter to read it or work on it, and the right go go over the utility line that goes to the meter. That is just part of your ability to get electrical service. In the discussion started by the OP, it is out in the country, with utility easements through the property, not just feeding to a home, etc.
OP isn't talking about reading meters. He's talking about hopping a locked fence to access a different part of the property to inspect/work on the lines/poles installed on private property (within a utility easement).
This is where things get dicey in places like Texas, particularly in South TX. You couldn't pay me enough to do this on a regular basis - if my employer told me to leave a tag on the gate and just jump the fence, I'd laugh so hard I'd probably bruise a rib.
Not really a thread drift, I think it's totally germane to the OP's concerns. If I was out on my property in Boerne with my daughters playing outdoors and I saw some rando climbing the fence, he'd have a .45 cal 1911 in his face and a former MP K-9 on his ass really quickly.
In thinking about it, my neighbor at the Boerne property has the utility easement on the East side of his property, that's where he usually puts his bull. The hell with the guns he's got, I'd worry more about the 1-ton animal that can do 30MPH.
Shoot..Got an address for me? I'm starting QA work over there on Amman Rd. tomorrow.
I can spot dogs 99% of the time. I clap my hands very loudly before I enter a properties. This always gets the attention of aggressive dogs.
'rando' is a strong word. We're fully decked out in neon yellow with hard hats, a GPS backpack and a tablet. If people want to kick me off the property or call the police I'm totally cool with that...but when people guns into the equation it's just harassment and totally unnecessary. At the end of the day we're just trying to do our job.
*bull not pit bull..but still bulls and dangerous animals are generally easy to spot when you make your presence know ahead of time. It's people I'm worried about.
Sure, there are guns in Texas and slightly different laws, but I've never read about a electric company worker in Texas getting shot. Unless you do something monumentally stupid, you aren't any more at risk than you were in your old state.
Personally, I wouldn't be worried about law-abiding folk with rifles. You should worry about running across a grow-op or meth lab. Those folk are truly paranoid, and don't much care what is or isn't legal.
And a high-vis vest is not going to make things any better in this situation.
The thing about Texas is a good 60% of private properties are behind locked gates. I'm from Ohio and up there it's probably closer to 10%..maybe even 5%
Most people down here wold build moats if they had the money to do so. I have no problem with Texas but working here as a surveyor, especially for this company, absolutely sucks.
To the OP: We Texans are friendly folks, but we're real particular about our private property.
You haven't had a gun pulled on you so far; don't continue to push your luck. If a gate is locked, you'd best not jump the fence. Do you think the landowner wants to keep everyone except you off of his/her property?
The power company should have their own locks on rural gates (after all, the linemen have to be able to access the lines & such); have your supervisor get you the keys/combinations for these locks from the client.
Also, I second the earlier comment about your life being jeopardized if you stumble upon a marijuana growing operation or a meth lab. And I'd also add "stash house" to that list.
I have had a gun pulled on me! Out in the Junction area. I didn't even have to jump a fence but the house was out in the middle of nowhere. After the homeowner realized who I was she lightened up significantly and even offered me some cold water.
We do have keys to locks. But the problem is these locks are only on maybe a quarter of rural fences. And now everyone in the subdivisions has automatic gates and we rarely know the combo to these.
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