​Northern Virginia Electric Cooperative (NOVEC), one of the nation’s largest distribution cooperatives, has experienced major challenges in dealing with telecommunications firms’ attachments on their distribution poles. These include technical problems due to improper attachments, as well as frequent attempts by these firms to reduce NOVEC’s ability to recover its costs through attachment rates. In meeting these challenges both in the field, in the legislature, and with regulators, the cooperative has leveraged solid asset data to stand up to some of the largest companies in the state of Virginia.