Who owns service drop copper cables

I am discussing purchase of some amount of copper cable with the owner of a recently closed company and its building.

He is okay with me buying any cable that provided service to previously owned heavy machinery, as long as the lights and HVAC etc is not affected.

The twist in the story is that the building has multiple utility service drops and some serve huge panels, with own meters, that ONLY power heavy equipment.

So, my thinking goes, I could take not only the cables after the panels, but also the cable from the service drop to the panel after the transformers, to the weatherheads, after the weatherheads, and the panels themselves.

To take those cables, I would need to disconnect high voltage fuse cutouts with a hot stick.

The owner is okay with that, however I want to make sure that it is legal. And my question is, who owns the service drop low voltage (480v) cables that come out of the pole transformers and go to the meter panel. Is the real owner the building owner, or the utility?

This is generally an up and up deal where the person really owns what he is selling, generally, but I want to double check on the service drop cables. This matter is such that any meter reader would see what happened. So I want to be more sure of what I am doing.

Also, if you want to make comments such as "I heard that electricity

appreciate it if you could refrain from commenting, I wanted to hear from people who actually know something.

Thanks

z
Reply to
zzz
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Contact the utility. If there is to be any fuss raised about "legality", it will be coming from the service provider. Around here, the power company provides the drop to the weather head (or meter panel, if the line is buried). I doubt they will permit you to disconnect the drops at the pole.

You seem to be referring to the same circuit as both high voltage and low voltage, and have no clue who provides the wire. That suggests you are not "people who actually know something."

Electricity is dangerous, do not mess with it.

Reply to
Larry Kraus

Low voltage is 480v, high voltage is what is coming from the pole to the transformers.

I have decided, indeed, not to mess with it, and not turn a good scrap deal into a nightmare.

z
Reply to
zzz

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