Utility companies

[sues48]

Can a utility company dig up my garden and driveway to replace cables without my authority?

[terence7556]

is it a safety issue? say to improve or upgrade your earth protection
i think that the utilities own the meters etc. and i rent them in my charges. i never take them with me when i move so they probably have some right of access and would rather have your permission to carry out work but can enforce if necessary

[sues48]

Thanks for that. It's not a safety issue - the local parish council decided they didn't want the pylons and poles any more and authorised the process without consultation with any villagers!!!

[johnny37]

Im not a lawyer but I would say that the answer to your question is NO. The utility company are responsble for the cabling up to and including your meter. Since the supply is already in place and working they cannot replace it with underground cabling without your permission. It happend to me and the company promised to return my drive to its previous condition. Personally I would go along with it unless there is a good reason why not. It must look better than overhead cabling. If you have some expensive plants make them replace them
(and get it in writing).

[bushbaby_de]

The answer is maybe... I work as a planning officer and it comes as a shock to a lot of people with grass verges around their land to find that parts of their plot are designated as Highway as they have utilities under them and even though the land forms part of the house plot, the owner cannot build on them without the Highway Authority's permission and if there are utilities under them the homeowner has to pay to relocate the utilities etc. So applying this logic to your case, it may well be that there are utilities under your land but the Local Authority has a charge over the land to access the utilities - therefore yes they can access them but its pretty bad practice not to warn you.