Con Ed Shuts Off Power to Lower Manhattan

[Edweird]

12. Undeground is not easier to restore.

Underground is resistant to wind - that's all it has going for it. When underground is damaged it is eponentially more work, time, money and intrusion than overhead. Wait until the effects of all that saltwater on NYC's underground system show up. It's going to be a nightmare in every possible way.
Padmount transformers - those green boxes used with underground cable - put incredibly dangerous voltages at ground level. Flood, cars/equipment, vandalism, etc. expose people to those voltages.
Padmount transformers are a hassle to change out. Overhead transformers attach tangentially to the high voltage line. Padmounts are 'daisy chained. When one fails, it takes a LONG time to move connections on all the OTHER padmounts to isolate the bad one. This is incredibly time consuming. I can change out an overhead transformer in minutes. It takes hours for a pad mount.
Padmount transformers have to be replaced with the same type of transformer. A few years back we had a cold snap (in South Florida). Everyone ran space heaters which created a huge resistive load that blew out transformers. They ran out of padmounts. I can make something work with overhead - there is no latitude with underground.
I could go on and on about why underground isn't such a great idea, but I'm tired of typing about it. Besides, powerlines are what I do for a living so I'm sure you know much more about the pros and cons of this than I do.