Hoping that someone can shed some light on how electric transmission easements are priced. I'm familiar with pipelines, but have not had much experience with electric lines. Are there any rules of thumb for this? For reference, it is a 100' wide easement with AEP in South Texas. Thanks.

They paid us based on acreage taken. Appraised value times 3 . My dealings with them were horrible. IMO they lie and don't respect anything or anyone. Good luck and get EVERYTHING they promise in writing or record!

Get a good attorney that knows how to negotiate these things. Good appraiser helps too.

Cowboy's right.

I had a ROW agent tell me one time that their policy is that if it's not in writing, it never happened.

Just like they used to say at weddings, 'Speak now, or forever hold your peace.'

If the money's attractive to you, ask for the provisions you want to help limit the burden on your use of the property. If you don't care about the money, see it they'll bother someone else. Many times though, their engineers have etched the preferred route in stone so you may have to play ball with them.

ROW's benefit everyone, but in many cases the landowner (and his successors) is the one bearing the heaviest long-term costs.

We used to have a guy up here who hated eminent domain and right of ways and easements. He would fight them every chance he could.

In many cases, he was able to keep them from crossing his land just by dragging things out. I've been told that one electric line went up to one side of his property, made a ninety degree turn, and went around the property and back along the other side to where it would have gone if it went straight across and then continued from there.

As a result of his fights with them, the prices paid on properties near his land are supposedly quite a bit above average.

Some of the terms I've heard of him negotiating in the lease are:
1) A single track (you wouldn't call it a road) through the easement and they have to stay on that track. Nobody is allowed to drive off of it, much less away from the easement out across his pastures.
2) They can't enter the fields and pastures in the mud -- they have to wait for the ground to dry.
3) No shooting.

I somewhat assisted an older woman last year deal with the one going to Houston from the north. It was a 100' easement also and affected 3.9 acres on the north of her property. They initially offered her approx. $7,000 per acre and said they didn't want to negotiate. She waited them out for a few months and hemmed and hawed and they came back with an offer of approx. $14,000 per acre.
That is when I recommended to her that she turn it over to a local attorney who was handling other landowners' negotiations. The attorney said he would negotiate with the power company for 30% of the difference between the final settlement and her best previous offer. The final settlement ended up around $54,000 per acre which was incredible to me but shows what kind of money is available.
What a family member who is in the business told me later is that settlement money doesn't just come from the Power company wanting the easement. It is built into everyone's billing every month and goes into what is essentially a land acquisition slush fund for all companies wanting to expand. True story.

Speaking of dragging things out, XTO was trying to get a short ROW in east TX and there weren't a lot of options for them. The landowner fought tooth and nail against the ROW. They sued and counter sued back and forth.
Then the landowner formed his own midstream "company" and proposed his own pipeline that he would lay (of course it would never get built). So XTO had to take him back to court to prove the company was a farce.
When that finally failed, the guy designated a large plot of land as a cemetery and hence no ROW could be built. Back to court again. Finally after years and years and God knows how much money, XTO finally got the ROW.

Joe Will Ross in San Angelo is a great lawyer for these types of issues if you need a recommendation for one. He's a good Ag too!