Will I get fried if I touch the electric power pole?

Question

The poles around here have been buzzing since I went outside today. This evening I saw they were all arcing across the insulators. I've messed with St. Elmo's fire before, and its nothing like that.

Answer 1

Depending on the voltage and the humidity, it is not uncommon to hear buzzing on transmission circuits. (138+ kV with high humidity)

However if this is occurring on the regular wood poles around your neighborhood, then you've probably got distribution circuit in the range of 4 kV to 27 kV. Buzzing and arcing is not normal at these voltages.

If you see arcing, then there is tracking across the insulators. This is leakage current and is likely continuing down the pole to ground. At some point this will get worse. I recommend you contact the local electric utility. If this is a wood pole, or has wood crossarms, the tracking can eventually cause a fire at those components. Look with binoculars and see if the wood is charred where the insulator's hardware is attached.

Call your local utility and give them the geographic address. If there is equipment on the pole, it imight have some large letters or numbers as a location label. Give them that information too.

Answer 2

If you see something unusual contact your local power network distributor....