02-06-2011, 02:39 PM
FPL (Florida) told us one pole per 300' for a 2000'+ run we were considering, 7 poles in all - $1000 per pole going into soft sand. This was in somewhat thick woods - we asked them if there was service on the property, they said they'd check the drawings and get back to us in a couple of days. 2 weeks later they called back and told us "no, checked the drawings, there's no power on that property line." I said "we were out there last Saturday with machetes and we found poles with wire and transformers on them." They replied with "let me check the drawings again and I'll get back to you." Two days later, they called back and "found" those poles and transformers we saw.
I imagine the longer spacing only works when the wire is in fairly high tension - might be practical for long runs, but not when you're talking about a decision between 1 or 2 poles.