Pole Access and General Order 178
Background
General Order (GO) 178 establishes California’s rules for access to utility poles and rights-of-way. Adopted by Decision (D.) 26-05-007 on May 14, 2026, the General Order is intended to make access requirements easier to find, more transparent, and more consistently applied while preserving safety, engineering, capacity, and reliability requirements.
GO 178 requires attachers to maintain accurate records. This builds on pole and attachment data requirements for pole owners established in D.20-07-004 and D.21-10-019. Major Pole Owners must maintain specified pole and attachment information and make it available to authorized users under appropriate access and security controls.
What GO 178 Changes
- Creates one formal statewide framework for utility rights-of-way and support-structure access.
- Requires nondiscriminatory access, subject to capacity, safety, engineering, and reliability considerations.
- Makes access, design, construction, and maintenance standards publicly available.
- Orders Major Pole Owners to make pole information regarding access, internal design, construction, and maintenance standards publicly available.
- Allows government-agencies to attach under a contractual license agreement if they comply with requirements outlined in GO 178.
Where to Find Documents and Links to Other Resources
- Overview of D.26-05-007 — Overview of the decision and new General Order.
- General Order 178 — Current rights-of-way requirements.
- D.26-05-007 — Decision adopting GO 178 and its implementation requirements.
- Resources — Resources for Broadband Projects
- Infrastructure
- Pole and Conduit Databases & Application
Standardized Self-Help Agreement Workshop
Purpose. Gather input from interested parties to inform standardized self-help agreements and related implementation filings.
Required timing. The Major Pole Owners must hold the workshop no later than 120 days after D.26-05-007 was issued—by September 12, 2026.
Date and location. Please contact Workshop Coordinator, Amelie Cannesson, aedc.pge.com
Primary outcome. Input supporting Tier 3 Advice Letters due within 60 days after the workshop.
Major Pole Owner Database Access
The information for accessing the database of each of the five major pole owners is still in development and will be available soon.