The main purpose of providing slack in electrical cables is to prevent the effects of thermal stress in them.
Most materials expand when heated and contract when cooled. This can be easily observed by heating a metal object (preferably made of iron) and cooling it after it has melted. The iron will contract when cooled. The same happens with electrical cables. These cables expand when heated (due to warm weather) and contract when cooled (due to colder weather). If the cables were completely taut without any slack in them, expansion would not be as serious an issue as contraction. That is, during colder weather, the taut cable would contract and would pull the poles closer, an unfavorable scenario.
Thus, we ensure to leave some slack while installing electrical cables. The slack also ensures the availability of wire when any remodeling or reconnections are needed. The wires can also be moved around a little bit during times of remodeling.
Hope this helps.
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