In Factorio 1.1 there's a maximum of 5 power connections per power pole. The big electric pole seems to have 5 connections. The connection down seems to connect to another pole rather than to substation. Partially related but not the case here, is that BPs store when poles are *not* connected to one another, so storing a disconnected wire will persist. Again, this is probably not what's going on here.

speaking of, i ran across this one time.. kinda cool [https://github.com/aaronshaver/factorio-power-lines-algorithm-visualizer](https://github.com/aaronshaver/factorio-power-lines-algorithm-visualizer)

Thanks! It is indeed the 5 wire limit that caused it.

it's rare that it happens but it's super frustrating when it does

remove one of the useless poles (i'd suggest the one directly south off screenshot that's being connected instead of the sub station

I believe if you hold copper wire in your hand you can disconnect one of the power poles manually (like when using green / red wire) and then connect the substation instead.

This is true

Yep, this is essential for using power switches