Georgia law prohibits anyone other than Georgia Power from placing signs on the company’s utility poles. The law includes candidates for public office in that ban.

Not only is the posting of signs illegal, it is also an endangerment to the line crews working on the poles. Nails and staples can tear safety gloves, which are the primary form of protection for linemen working with energized power lines.

Anyone placing signs on Georgia Power property may be in violation of state election statutes, state criminal statutes, state highway statutes and local ordinances.

Georgia election statute generally restricts the placement of outdoor campaign signs on utility property, to include rights-of-way, facilities and poles.

Furthermore, a State Ethics Commission advisory opinion takes the position that a utility makes an unlawful campaign contribution by allowing the placement of campaign signs on its property. Georgia general criminal statutes, makes it unlawful for any person to injure or destroy any apparatus, including a post, belonging to a company engaged in the manufacture or sale of electricity. Nails and staples used to post signs damage utility poles. Georgia highway statutes restrict the placement of signs within public rights-of-way and along roads. Exceptions are made to this statute for traffic signs and signals, or other signs authorized by law.

Local ordinances often prohibit the posting of signs on utility poles. These ordinances may provide exceptions for certain official signs such as commemorative plaques or banners, official holiday decorations, public transportation information, signs giving directions to government facilities, hospitals or churches, etc.