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No that’s not how utilities work. Utilities are compensated for the approved capital they invest in infrastructure in the form of higher customer rates. The u

No that’s not how utilities work. Utilities are compensated for the approved capital they invest in infrastructure in the form of higher customer rates. The upshot of this is that every utility in the country would love nothing more than to underground every overhead line in their service area. The reason this doesn’t happen is because public service commissions, who approve capital plans, aren’t willing to saddle customers with the astronomical costs of undergrounding lines (which runs $2-$3M per mile on distribution, depending on rock content of soil).

HenryKissinger 7y ago
Let's say you want to bury a line 30 miles long. The upper end of your estimate is $90M. If the line services 50k customers, that's an average cost of $1,800 per customer. Charge an extra $50 on people's monthly bills for a period of 36 months, and your underground line is paid for.
- 0xffff2 7y ago
  My entire monthly bill from PG&E is usually about $50...
  - seanmcdirmid 7y ago
    Ya, without the need to run AC or heat (like in SF or even LA outside of summer), electric bills can be pretty cheap.
- dsfyu404ed 7y ago
  Unless you live in an area where electricity prices are sky high and A/C is all but a necessity that's like 50% of people's bills. That might fly in some rich suburb of NYC but try that in Buffalo and the tar and feathers would come out.
- rootusrootus 7y ago
  PG&E has 81,000 miles of distribution lines. Even if they served all of California (they do not), that would be less than 15K customers for an average 30 mile segment.
- dillonmckay 7y ago
  Say it is extremely rural and we only have 20 customers in those 30 miles. So, $4.5 million per customer. At this point, why be attached to the grid at all? A renewable setup with storage makes sense at that point.
  - coding123 7y ago
    It makes sense at the current rates. Solar can replace the entire grid. And instead of using large HVAC transmission lines, small communities can form small grids to help share battery stored energy (while still metered so the power usage is fair) or a resident could opt out of the community grid and do fully off grid solar as long as the had the ability to handle a few cloudy days.

HenryKissinger 7y ago

Let's say you want to bury a line 30 miles long. The upper end of your estimate is $90M. If the line services 50k customers, that's an average cost of $1,800 per customer. Charge an extra $50 on people's monthly bills for a period of 36 months, and your underground line is paid for.

0xffff2 7y ago
My entire monthly bill from PG&E is usually about $50...
- seanmcdirmid 7y ago
  Ya, without the need to run AC or heat (like in SF or even LA outside of summer), electric bills can be pretty cheap.
dsfyu404ed 7y ago
Unless you live in an area where electricity prices are sky high and A/C is all but a necessity that's like 50% of people's bills. That might fly in some rich suburb of NYC but try that in Buffalo and the tar and feathers would come out.
rootusrootus 7y ago
PG&E has 81,000 miles of distribution lines. Even if they served all of California (they do not), that would be less than 15K customers for an average 30 mile segment.
dillonmckay 7y ago
Say it is extremely rural and we only have 20 customers in those 30 miles. So, $4.5 million per customer. At this point, why be attached to the grid at all? A renewable setup with storage makes sense at that point.
- coding123 7y ago
  It makes sense at the current rates. Solar can replace the entire grid. And instead of using large HVAC transmission lines, small communities can form small grids to help share battery stored energy (while still metered so the power usage is fair) or a resident could opt out of the community grid and do fully off grid solar as long as the had the ability to handle a few cloudy days.