Deval Patrick urges utilities to take hard look at moving utility lines underground.
Gov. Patrick used multiple appearances with the media Monday to call for utilities to review the cost to bury power lines underground, following a historic weekend snowstorm that left over 400,000 customers across the state of Massachusetts without electricity.
“I think we’re getting to a point where it would be very worthwhile for the utilities to do some hard analysis about the value of burying utilities underground,” Patrick said after touring the damage caused by the powerful storm.
Utilities have been reluctant at moving more infrastructures below ground, saying consumers would object to spending as much as $2.1 million a mile, according to one industry estimate, to bury wires for a system that’s not fail-safe.
On its website, National Grid says underground transmission lines are more expensive to install than above ground lines.
National Grid says of its approximately 200,000 miles of high voltage transmission lines, only approximately 5,000 miles are located underground.
At ElecComm, underground transmission lines is our specialty, contact us.
WCVB.com
