Overhead Power Lines are Live!
Overhead lines are normally NOT insulated. When you see birds or squirrels on them, they are only alive because they aren’t completing a circuit by touching the ground or offering the current an easier path than following the cable itself.
Most of the outdoor power lines you see are weather coated at most, with no insulation other than spacers at utility poles. Because they are so high above the ground, this isn’t an issue unless the lines fall, or a worker comes into contact with them while trimming a tree.
And while lines that could be touched from a rooftop or tree are insulated, that insulation degrades over time, eventually crumbling and revealing bare wire. Approach all overhead lines with full knowledge of what they are potentially fatal objects best left to a licensed electrician or utility worker.
