A federal appeals court ruled that nothing in federal or North Ca...

Membership Cooperative in 2004 raised its pole attachment rate from $6 to $20 per pole upon expiration of a 1997 contract. The utility co-op said it arrived at its figure using FCC pole-attachment rate formulas. Time Warner said the co-op had made a calculation error and the proper FCC formula rate was $11.96 a pole. The co-op ignored Time Warner and stuck with its $20 rate. Time Warner sued, saying the $20 rate was unreasonable and discriminatory because it far exceeded cost, was excessive under the FCC’s rate formula, and was well above the pole attachment rates of other electric utilities in North Carolina. But a district judge dismissed Time Warner’s suit, saying the co-op’s rate didn’t violate federal or state law. Time Warner turned to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., which upheld the dismissal. The 4th Circuit (Case 06-1974) said Congress explicitly excluded electric cooperatives from the federal Pole Attachment Act, and North Carolina state law doesn’t authorize regulation of electric co-op pole attachment agreements, so there’s no ground in federal or state law to judicially review what Carteret-Craven charges for pole attachments. The 4th Circuit said pole attachment leasing is distinct from delivering electricity to customers, so pole attachment regulation would require specific legislation. It said Congress and the North Carolina legislature had opportunities to regulate electric cooperatives’ pole attachment agreements but both chose not to.