You are putting up a new building. That electricity pole is in your way and you need to get it moved.  So who pays? If you ring the Distribution Electricity Operator (DNO) and ask, they’ll probably give you a quote. And it won’t be cheap.    

However, if you have a wayleave for the line and the line is part of the infra-structure which takes power to other customers, you have a right to give notice to terminate the wayleave and then subsequently request to have the line removed.  It’s a formal process and you must quote the right clause from the Electricity Act in your communication.  Get this right and you’ll have a DNO employee knocking at your door keen to negotiate a new route.  And generally the work’s for free.  There are exceptions of course, but that’s what normally happens. We’ve seen lots of cases.

What’s annoying is that you’re not always told about your rights in this respect, with DNO’s happy to take money from you for the line alteration.  So take some advice before parting with your cash and make sure you sort it out well before you need to have the line moved.  It can take some time to complete.