NORTH PALM BEACH, Fla. — When you reach out to WPTV, we listen.
At one of our recent "Let's Hear It" meet-ups, Vivian Dale, a North Palm Beach woman, came to us saying she has been concerned about her safety for years regarding a cable that hangs outside her home.
WATCH BELOW: WPTV helps resident resolve decade-old cable concern
We worked to get her answers, and on Monday, we followed up with Dale, who now has peace of mind.
"Nobody wants to take responsibility for maintaining it," Dale recently told us.
Dale said a utility line has been sagging behind her fence for more than a decade.
"If it's live, somebody could get electrocuted. It might be somebody in my family, it might be somebody else," Dale told WPTV reporter Jon Shainman during our "Let's Hear It" event in Juno Beach.
We visited her North Palm Beach home a few weeks ago and saw the line for ourselves, which was about 8 feet off the ground.
We reached out to some agencies and gave Dale their numbers to contact.
She discovered the wire in question was not a power line but instead a utility cable.
"I didn’t know. I thought someone would get electrocuted, but they assured me no one would get electrocuted," Dale said.
There are guidelines on how high both power lines and utility lines have to be placed in Florida.
WPTV reached out to the Florida Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities.
As of Monday evening, we had not heard from them, so we did some digging. We found out that the National Electrical Safety Code recommends that electrical lines in residential neighborhoods be 15 and a half feet high. Communication lines for cable, phone and internet are usually placed lower on power poles and need at least a 10-foot clearance depending on the voltage.
After several weeks of waiting, Dale sent WPTV a video of a contractor for the cable company fixing the wire.
"I feel terrific because I'm not worried that some limb is going to fall on it," Dale said. "You know it's always good to know somebody. I'm glad I know WPTV."
If you have a utility-related concern, you can call the Public Service Commission at 1-800-342-3552 or email them at contact@psc.state.fl.us
