[bobeaston]

Are there any powerline techs in the audience?
Notice that there's a lighter weight line running along the top of power lines, especially the high tension lines. That line is an artificial ground, placed there to afford lightning protection to the towers and power lines. I've witnessed those lines taking lightning strikes and saving the grid they were on from outage.

So... it seems to me that there should also be a "cone of protection" from these lines. We live in Chitty Chatty which has a high tension set of lines running right down the middle of the village. Is it reasonable to imagine the protection on those towers provides a cone of protection for nearby homes? If so, to what distance?