A method of electrically powering an optical network element (110, 404, 500, 700, 1000, 1200) of a wide area network by a customer premise power injector (135, 705, 1302) that is disposed for use between the network element and said subscriber terminal (137, 703a, 1300, 1301) of the wide area network, the method of electrically powering the optical network element by the customer premise power injector over the same electrical transmission line used for communication between the optical network element and the subscriber terminal comprising the steps of: at the customer premise power injector: receiving an electrical subscriber terminal communications for the network element from a first electrical port (131, 709, 1308) of the customer premise power injector and conveying the electrical subscriber terminal communications for the network element to a second electrical port of the customer premise power injector; receiving electrical network element communications for the subscriber terminal from the second electrical port of the customer premise power injector and conveying the electrical network element communications for the subscriber terminal to the first electrical port of the customer premise power injector; receiving a first electrical power from a third electrical port of the customer premise power injector; the method being characterised by the steps of: providing a low level detection current derived from the first electrical power; coupling the low level detection current to the second electrical port; detecting a predetermined load using the low level detection current wherein the predetermined load indicates coupling of the optical network element to the customer premise power injector through said transmission line disposed to couple to the second electrical port; providing a second electrical power having additional current and/or voltage than the low level detection current; and coupling the second electrical power to the second electrical port responsive to detecting the predetermined load. receiving an electrical subscriber terminal communications for the network element from a first electrical port (131, 709, 1308) of the customer premise power injector and conveying the electrical subscriber terminal communications for the network element to a second electrical port of the customer premise power injector; receiving electrical network element communications for the subscriber terminal from the second electrical port of the customer premise power injector and conveying the electrical network element communications for the subscriber terminal to the first electrical port of the customer premise power injector; receiving a first electrical power from a third electrical port of the customer premise power injector; the method being characterised by the steps of: providing a low level detection current derived from the first electrical power; coupling the low level detection current to the second electrical port; detecting a predetermined load using the low level detection current wherein the predetermined load indicates coupling of the optical network element to the customer premise power injector through said transmission line disposed to couple to the second electrical port; providing a second electrical power having additional current and/or voltage than the low level detection current; and coupling the second electrical power to the second electrical port responsive to detecting the predetermined load.