Washington Administrative Code › Title 480 - Utilities and Transportation Commission › Chapter 480-54 - ATTACHMENT TO TRANSMISSION FACILITIES › Section 480-54-030 - Duty to provide access; make-ready work; timelines

Current through Register Vol. 24-14, July 15, 2024
(1) An owner shall provide requesters with
			 nondiscriminatory access for attachments to or in any facility the owner owns
			 or controls, except that if the owner is an electrical company as defined in
			 RCW 80.04.-010, the owner is not obligated to provide access for attachment to
			 its facilities by another electrical company. An owner may deny such access to
			 specific facilities on a nondiscriminatory basis where there is insufficient
			 capacity or for reasons of safety, reliability, and generally applicable
			 engineering principles; provided that the owner may not deny access to a pole
			 based on insufficient capacity if the requester is willing to compensate the
			 owner for the costs to replace the existing pole with a taller pole and
			 otherwise undertake make-ready work to increase the capacity of the pole to
			 accommodate an additional attachment including, but not limited to, using
			 space- and cost-saving attachment techniques, such as boxing (installation of
			 attachments on both sides of the pole at approximately the same height) or
			 bracketing (installation of extension arms), to the extent that the owner uses,
			 or allows occupants to use, such attachment techniques in the communications
			 space of the owner's poles.
(2) All
			 rates, terms, and conditions made, demanded, or received by any owner for any
			 attachment by a licensee or by a utility must be fair, just, reasonable, and
			 sufficient and must be included in an attachment agreement with the licensee or
			 utility. Parties may mutually agree on terms for attachment to or in facilities
			 that differ from those in this chapter. In the event of disputes submitted for
			 commission resolution, any party advocating rates, terms, or conditions that
			 vary from the rules in this chapter bears the burden to prove those rates,
			 terms, or conditions are fair, just, reasonable, and sufficient.
(3) Except for overlashing requests described
			 in subsection (11) of this section, a requester must submit a written
			 application to an owner to request access to its facilities. The owner may
			 recover from the requester the reasonable costs the owner actually and
			 reasonably incurs to process the application, including the costs of inspecting
			 the facilities identified in the application and preparing a preliminary
			 estimate for any necessary make-ready work, to the extent these costs are not,
			 and would not ordinarily be, included in the accounts used to calculate the
			 attachment rates in WAC 480-54-060. The owner may survey the facilities
			 identified in the application and may recover from the requester the costs the
			 owner actually and reasonably incurs to conduct that survey. The owner must
			 provide the requester with an estimate of those costs prior to conducting a
			 survey. The owner must complete any such survey and respond in writing to
			 requests for access to the facilities identified in the application within
			 forty-five days from the date the owner receives a complete application, except
			 as otherwise provided in this section. A complete application is an application
			 that provides the information necessary to enable the owner to identify and
			 evaluate the facilities to or in which the requester seeks to attach.
(4) If the owner denies the request in an
			 application for access, in whole or in part, the owner's written response to
			 the application must include an explanation of the reasons for the denial for
			 each facility to which the owner is denying access. Such a response must
			 include all relevant information supporting the denial.
(5) To the extent that it grants the access
			 requested in an application, the owner's written response must inform the
			 requester of the results of the review of the application. Within fourteen days
			 of providing its written response, the owner must provide an estimate of
			 charges to perform all necessary make-ready work, including the costs of
			 completing the estimate. Make-ready work costs are nonrecurring costs that are
			 not included in carrying charges and must be costs that the owner actually and
			 reasonably incurs to provide the requester with access to the facility.
(a) The requester must accept or reject an
			 estimate of charges to perform make-ready work within thirty days of receipt of
			 the estimate. The owner may require the requester to pay all estimated charges
			 to perform make-ready work as part of acceptance of the estimate or before the
			 owner undertakes the make-ready work subject to true-up to the reasonable costs
			 the owner actually incurs to undertake the work.
(b) An owner may withdraw an outstanding
			 estimate of charges to perform make-ready work any time after thirty days from
			 the date the owner provides the estimate to the requester if the requester has
			 not accepted or rejected that estimate. An owner also may establish a date no
			 earlier than thirty days from the date the owner provides the estimate to the
			 requester after which the estimate expires without further action by the
			 owner.