UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Utilities Service

BULLETIN 1724D-106 

RD-GD-2010-63

SUBJECT: Considerations For Replacing Storm-Damaged Conductors

TO: RUS Electric Borrowers 

EFFECTIVE DATE: Date of Approval 

OFFICE OF PRIMARY INTEREST: Distribution Branch, Electric Staff Division 

AVAILABILITY: This is a revision of an existing guide bulletin and is available on the Rural 

Utilities Service website at http://www.usda.gov/rus/electric/bulletins.htm.

PURPOSE: Immediately after a major storm like a hurricane, electric utility personnel are very 

busy and focused on restoring electric service. Often during this period of service restoration 

and commotion, electric utility engineers or others have to make an immediate decision on 

whether to simply re-install downed or damaged conductors or to replace them with new 

conductors. This bulletin provides guidelines that will assist Rural Utilities Service (RUS)

borrowers to expediently make this decision. 

_____8/3/10_____________

Date 

Acting Assistant Administrator

Electric Program

Disclaimer: The contents of this guidance document does not have the force and effect of law and is not 

meant to bind the public in any way. This document is intended only to provide clarity to the public regarding 

existing requirements under the law or agency policies.
Bulletin 1724D-106

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 PURPOSE

2 RESTORATION OF ELECTRIC SERVICE

3 RUS ACCOUNTING REQUIRMENTS

4 BENEFITS OF REPLACING STORM-DAMAGED CONDUCTORS

5 REASONS TO REPLACE DAMAGED CONDUCTORS WITH LARGER 

CONDUCTORS

INDEX:

Conductors, Distribution

Conductors, Transmission

ABBREVIATIONS

ACSR Aluminum Conductor Steel Reinforced

CWP Construction Work Plan

LRP Long Range Plan

FEMA Federal Emergency Management Agency

RUS Rural Utilities service

DEFINITIONS

For the purposes of this bulletin, the following definitions are used:

Storm (or major storm) - The most recent major natural catastrophic event such as a hurricane, 

tornado, flood, forest fire or an ice storm.

Line Section - All of the spans between guyed, dead-end, poles or structures. (In this bulletin it 

is assumed that new conductors will be installed and sagged in the entire line section because 

that is the standard method of installing new conductors.)

Conductor-Span - One span of one primary phase or a neutral conductor.
Bulletin 1724D-106

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(e.g., 5 spans with 3 phases and a neutral equal 20 Conductor-Spans.) [5 x (3 + 1) = 20] 

Downed conductor – A conductor that is lying on or near the ground as the result of a storm. (A 

downed conductor has usually either been torn away from its pole-top attachments, or it is still 

attached to the top of a pole that has been broken off.)

Damaged conductor – A conductor that:

Is entirely broken or contains broken strands;

Has been permanently stretched, annealed, or deformed such that cannot be re-installed 

within predictable sag values or reasonable tension limits;

Is severely pitted, burned, or similarly harmed in other ways;

Has areas of rusted steel or corroded (white powder) aluminum strands; or

Contains one or more splices (with automatic splices or compression type connectors) other 

than those installed when the conductor was initially installed.

Re-install conductors – A repair if necessary and restore all of the downed or damaged 

conductors in a line section to their original position before the storm.

Replace conductors - Remove the downed or damaged conductors (even if they have been 

previously re-installed) and install new conductors of the same size or larger.

FORMS

Questionnaire Form: “Reasons to Replace Stormed-Damaged Conductors”
Bulletin 1724D-106

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1 PURPOSE

a This bulletin presents guidelines for borrowers to use during emergency system 

restorations when borrowers need to decide without delay whether to re-install or to 

replace storm-damaged conductors. This bulletin is not to be used for making 

undamaged conductor replacement decisions normally made in a construction work plan 

(CWP) or a long-range plan (LRP) that employ additional studies and a much more 

rigorous analysis.

b The brief questionnaire at the end of this bulletin can be used to determine, document and 

validate replacing storm-damaged conductors with new conductors. If one or more of the 

6 criteria in the questionnaire are met, then the conductor replacement is justified. A 

knowledgeable utility engineer in the field can complete the questionnaire when 

conductor replacement decisions need to be made promptly, without the benefit of an 

engineering study, during restoration activities after a major storm event.

c If borrowers are seeking grant funds from FEMA, RUS recommends that borrowers

reference and comply with the FEMA Disaster Assistance Fact Sheet DAP9580.6. 

2 RESTORATION OF ELECTRIC SERVICE

a Immediately after a storm, electric utilities expediently strive to make the distribution 

supply system safe for the general public, and restore electric service to all consumers in 

an orderly, prioritized manner (starting from the substation). For example, the restoration 

of service to hospitals and re-energizing main feeders are deemed high priority. 

Whenever possible, line workers make good, permanent repairs to the storm-damaged 

distribution system. However during emergency conditions, line workers routinely make 

temporary repairs (including non-standard construction) until the time and resources are 

available to return and make permanent repairs to restore the distribution supply system 

to its condition before the storm.

b For the purposes of this bulletin, it is assumed that all distribution line materials other 

than conductors (such as poles, crossarms, insulators and transformers) that have been 

damaged during a storm have been or will be permanently replaced on a “like-with-like” 

basis. The purpose of such repairs and material replacements is to restore the distribution 

infrastructure to pre-storm.

3 RUS ACCOUNTING REQUIREMENTS

Borrowers’ activities related to materials retirements, new material replacements, and 

construction and other activities pertaining to storm damage restoration involve 

accounting procedures that are beyond the scope of this bulletin. However, because of 

the detailed nature of these accounting provisions, RUS recommends that borrowers refer 

to RUS Bulletin 1767B-1, “Uniform System of Accounts - Electric Program.” Borrowers 

should specifically review Accounting Method and Procedure #136, “Storm Damage,” in 
Bulletin 1724D-106

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RUS Bulletin 1767B-1. Copies of RUS Bulletin 1767B-1 are available on the RUS website at: 

http://www.usda.gov/rus/regs/bulls/1767b-1.pdf

4 BENEFITS OF REPLACING STORM-DAMAGED CONDUCTORS

Replacing downed or damaged conductors immediately or soon after a storm will 

eliminate the duplicate labor and cost of a documented and planned near future 

replacement of the conductors based on a previous study of voltage, loading, or physical 

condition needs. Also replacing downed and damaged conductors immediately or soon 

after a storm will eliminate the duplicate labor and cost of re-installing the downed and 

damaged conductors yet another time (or ultimately replacing them) should the old 

conductors fail again when subjected to another storm before they are replaced. 

5 REASONS TO REPLACE DAMAGED CONDUCTORS WITH LARGER 

CONDUCTORS

If the decision has been made to replace downed or damaged conductors, larger 

conductors should be installed if:

a Larger conductors are called for and documented in a current CWP or LRP;

b The existing conductors are made of steel, Amerductor, Copperweld or 

hard-drawn copper;

c The conductors are smaller than #2 ACSR; or

d There are known (and preferably documented) undesirable primary voltage drops 

or primary conductor overload problems that can be attributed to the conductors 

in the line section in question.
Bulletin 1724D-106

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QUESTIONNAIRE FORM: “Reasons to Replace Stormed-Damaged Conductors

Company: _______________________________ Address: ____________________________________

Engineer: ________________________________________________________ Date: ______________

Date and type of storm [name] ___________________________________________________________

Circuit, lead / line & section location: ______________________________________No. of Spans: _____

Existing Conductor [phases, size & type: approx. age]: ________________________________________ 

Number of Conductor-Spans1 in the line section; Total Number =__________ Damaged =____________

Description of damage: _________________________________________________________________

Number of poles in line section: Total Number = ____________ Number Damaged = _______________

Proposed Conductor [phases, size & type]: _________________________________________________

Comments: __________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ 

____________________________________________________________________________________ 

Reasons for Replacing Conductors in the above Line Section YES NO

#1. 25%or more of the conductor spans are damaged. Damage is defined 

as broken conductors, broken strands, the existence of new (disasterrelated) splices, and/or if the conductor is severely pitted, burned, kinked, or 

damaged.

#2. 30% or more of the line spans are visibly out of sag or do not meet 

clearances (for example, the conductor does not meet clearance 

requirements for conductor-to-conductor or conductor-to-ground).

#3. 40% or more of the poles were replaced or need to be replaced or 

plumbed (straightened) due to the disaster. 

#4. 40% or more of the supporting structures have a disaster-related 

damaged component (for example, x-arms, braces, pins, ties, insulators, 

guys/anchors, or poles).

#5. The sum of the percentages of the above criteria is 65% or more.

#6. Other additional compelling information provided by a licensed 

professional engineer.

 1

 A Conductor-Span means one span of one primary phase or neutral conductor.

 Example: 5 spans with 3 phases and neutral equals 20 Conductor-Spans. [ 5 x (3 + 1) = 20 ]