Abstract: A non-ceramic insulator for high voltage electrical conductors is designed using a combination of materials to form the outermost surface of the insulator. The non-ceramic insulator includes a support structure and one or more weather sheds. The surface characteristics are chosen to give the insulator good contamination and flashover performance while preventing the aging due to corona activity caused by water drops. Also, the weather shed spacing is varied according to the strength of the local electric field. Old non-ceramic insulators are retrofitted to create a combination of aging resistant and hydrophobic surfaces.