Who owns low voltage copper cables past utility transformers

I am discussing purchase of some amount of copper cable with the owner
of a recently closed company and its building.

He is okay with me buying any cable that provided service to
previously owned heavy machinery, as long as the lights and HVAC etc
is not affected.

The twist in the story is that the building has multiple utility
service drops and some serve huge panels, with own meters, that ONLY
power heavy equipment.

So, my thinking goes, I could take not only the cables after the
panels, but also the cable from the service drop to the panel after
the transformers, to the weatherheads, after the weatherheads, and the
panels themselves.

To take those cables, I would need to disconnect high voltage fuse
cutouts with a hot stick.

The owner is okay with that, however I want to make sure that it is
legal. And my question is, who owns the service drop low voltage
(480v) cables that come out of the pole transformers and go to the
meter panel. Is the real owner the building owner, or the utility?

This is generally an up and up deal where the person really owns what
he is selling, generally, but I want to double check on the service
drop cables. This matter is such that any meter reader would see what
happened. So I want to be more sure of what I am doing.

usually the utility owns the wire

Originally Posted by sjones99

usually the utility owns the wire

I agree. Utility owns it all until you get to the meter. I'm an insurance claims adjuster and that is the way it's always figured in a claim situation. I've done hundreds of claims where a tree or large limb has came down on the service drop and pulled the meter from the structure. Utility always takes care of the line to the meter.

And that includes any low voltage (telephone) or coax cable.