Because of a recent Supreme Court decision,distribution lines across the state of Texas were to be raised to 22 ft. in order to coincide with the standard requirement of transmission lines.
This decision is based on an error in defining the two types of lines.
This would mean utilities, including co-ops across Texas would have to raise tens of thousands of distribution lines from 18.5 ft. to 22 ft. costing millions of dollars. This cost would eventually have to be recovered by raising Texas consumer's rates.
A transmission line, as defined by the PUC of Texas, is a power line that is operated at 60,000 volts or above, when measured phase to phase. A distribution line, as defined by the PUC of Texas, is a power line operated below 60,000 volts, when measured phase to phase.