Post here if buried power lines would have prevented a power outage for you sometime in the last 10

[COLGATE4]

96. Please be kind enough to

show me with some facts just how what I've written is, as you so eloquently put it, "Utility company BS".

1 -Your statement that "It is not nearly as expensive as the Utilities pretend it is" is factually incorrect. You are aware, I assume that all utilities are regulated by the State in which they operate, and their costs and profits are likewise overseen and regulated. Why would utilities not choose to do this if it's not expensive? Or is it your contention that the State regulators of utilities are part of the vast conspiracy to deny people underground distribution lines?

2. Public easements rarely exist along distribution lines. Almost all utility easements are privately acquired over the course of many, many decades. The existing easements do not give you the right to underground on them. That right must be acquired separately, at a new acquisition cost with each landowner. In extreme cases you may try and get the State to condemn the property in question but either way you're going to pay a lot and it's going to be a long legal battle to do it. Until all the easements are acquired you can't underground a line.

3. What "new technology" 'basically renders that argument moot'? I'm envious - I imagine the utilities will pay you a great deal of money for you to let them in on it.

4. What 'markings' do you find on underground electric distribution lines? I'll give you a clue - none. The only utilities required to be marked are certain gas lines. To remedy accidents many states have laws which require the contractor to call the utility 'x' number of days before an anticipated dig so that the utility can go out and stake the line so they don't hit it. Many contractors ignore this and wind up cutting the lines. Happens almost daily in a big company.