Why do some neighborhoods have underground utilities? How does that come about? What are the pros/cons of having the utility poles underground vs. above-ground?
Wildfire season will soon descend upon California, which emerged last year from one of the deadliest, and costliest, blazes in the state’s history.
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The high price has served as a deterrent. An estimate from Edison Electric Institute back in 2004 placed the cost of setting up underground utilities at $1 million a mile, 10 times the cost of an overhead power line. That gap is starting to narrow, according to Clint Andrews, a professor of urban planning at Rutgers University.
Figures from PG&E published more recently suggest that burying overhead electric lines underground would cost about $3 million a mile, while building overhead lines would take $800,000 a mile.
Utility customers foot the cost, so it becomes part of everyone’s electricity bills, Andrews explained.