I have land in Reeves county TX. I have the surface ownership. There is a well just installed on the land. The company working on the well has asked for an electrical easement across my land for another piece of land. The length is about 29 rods. They have offered $17.00 / rod or $499 for the easement. I had agreed to use the Univ. of TX rates and the $17/rod is the min. and negociable in their pricing. I spoke with a representative of UT and he said they normally handle this as a side issue and he thought the rate for this may be low. The Univ. TX rates also note that the rate is for 10 yr with extention fees for beyond that time. However, the offer is for perpetuity. What is the going rate for something like this. $500 seems low for an easement that will last forever and is for another project that I am not involved in.
Forever is a long time. Easements have a reputation for devaluing the land's market value and may hinder future sales. This is such a small amount of money for the consequences.
Good luck,
Pat
I believe Ms. Malone has the right of it, you could suffer thousands of dollars in diminished property value.. I would not sign a contract for $500. I believe your signature or mine binding us, possibly making us subject to lawsuits is worth far more than that. Is your property wooded? They could do more than $500 damage on one tree.
I wonder also, if the easement is in perpetuity, is it also the sole right to cross your property? If it is they may make alot of money off selling pipeline easements on your property one day.
For $500 I would let them go around, it should be a short dogleg. Of course, crossing your property could save them considerable amount of money in cable alone. The longer the wire, the greater the diameter has to be to carry the voltage without a significant drop in voltage so the longer, the thicker. Big wire is not cheap. I would not do it for $5,000 unless I was really hurting for the money. My signature is worth that much to me.
You may want to consider including the lessee to agree to remove all equipment and lines in the easement (at their expense) after a period of time without use, or without production, and to return your land to the condition it was in before the easement.