Dariusz Konieczny, Cezary Kowalczyk

Utility easement issues and transmission infrastructure in Poland

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Abstract

The level of social development depends on the development of the technical infrastructure in a given region or country. Each community strives for its own progress and constructs increasingly larger numbers of enterprises and houses and is open to new technologies, not only for industrial development, but also at the average household level. Enterprises and local communities put forward growing demands for various types of energy (electricity, heating or mechanical) and needs concerning water supply and sewage disposal, as well as the need for constant communication and monitoring. Enjoyment of these types of “benefits” is ensured by various types of transmission and distribution networks, such as: power lines, telecommunications lines, gas pipelines, oil pipelines, heat pipelines, waterworks, sewerage systems and others. An increase in demand for services related to the supply of utilities requires maintenance and modernization of the existing networks and construction of new lines, which are important not only from the local, regional and national point of view, but also from the international (neighbourhood cooperation) or European perspective (supply for EU countries). A general demand for utilities involves the interference of linear infrastructure with the ownership of other entities which voluntarily or under compulsion burden their own properties for the placement of required transmission or distribution systems. Due to the linear character of transmission and distribution networks, properties owned by third parties are encumbered in a random manner. Such burdens many result in a decrease in the value of the properties encumbered as a result of limitations in the use of the property. In a market economy, owners of technical infrastructure should have a legal title to use encumbered, third-parties properties. In Poland, such a legal title is ensured, among others, by the utility easement right, which is classified as a limited property right and regulated in the Civil Code Act. This study analyses the length of the main transmission networks in Poland, investment plans, and discusses the general principles for determining the value of utility easement and differences between the strip of limited use of the property and the strip necessary to use the linear infrastructure (technical belt of the network).

Keywords: technical infrastructure; transmission; damage; utility easement.