I don't agree that it's a short-term problem. Historical data doesn't mean much given climate change. I agree that burying power lines isn't a cheap or simple solution, and I'm not arguing for it. However, it would be reasonable to expect storms and power outages to get worse.

My understanding as well growing up.

Interesting re: Plug Power; I live a couple miles from their electrolyzer facility in MA. And my company has looked at their stuff for forklifts; that's a pretty good use case for them.

Ha, ha, ha! People think all you gotta do is dig a trench and drop the wire off the poles, not quite as easy as that. Cost varies wildly from rural to city, but fact is, where ever you are, it ain't cheap! And you're right, everybody winds up paying.

Public utilities are what keeps housing expensive. People are funny, they get accustomed to lights, heat, fresh water and sewers and of course internet and cell phone.

I was an early investor in Plug Power 25 yrs ago. They are a hydrogen fuel cell developer. Their goal was to build fuel cells that could power a 3br 1200 sq' house with a 1.5kw hydrogen fuel cell. The goal was, "The size of a washing machine price $5,000." (never quite got there. more like $25k-$50k powering remote cell towers and now indoor forklifts)

Anyway, off grid electric power technology would do wonders to open up huge amounts of land currently not financially suitable for development. Would reduce housing crisis dramatically in VT and across the country. I'm still waiting for this paradigm shift.

Did you mean “Why doesn’t Vermont Barre its power lines?”

Yeah, it's not great in the winter since we run the heat pump plus electric (heat pump) hot water, but during summer our electric is close to zero.

In the 70s Rockefeller paid to have the lines buried/removed from the main streets in Woodstock

You clearly have never tried to dig a hole in Vermont.

You ever have to deal with a fault in the ground? It’s about 1000% harder to deal with and identify.

Historical areas grants plus old money plus the middle of town isn’t completely a slab of granite.

The rockefellers paid for it to be done in Woodstock I was told.

>it’s definitely more expensive to have to annually fix these things and send out the manpower from other agencies to deal with the emergencies.

Is it now? Please tell me where you got this definitely true fact.

You ever dig a hole in Vermont?

I typically see a range of 3-5x more for buried vs overhead, but these numbers are in the right ballpark (btw $100/ft works out to $528k per mile). In my town in MA, we used to be able to install underground for $1-2M per mile (mid 2010's), but it's probably crept up since then.

And because Vermont is rural, infrastructure that is network-based is expensive per capita (many miles to cover, not so many people). My neighbor in VT 2 doors down got a quote for running electrical service (which currently stops at the house in between ours); it was something like $100k. So, he decided to go off the grid: solar, small wind turbine, batteries. It was cheaper.

you might want to look up the GDP of California and it's tax base and compare it to Vermont

CurlyProverbz is on yt, her hair care is all Ayurvedic, but stuff that's easily gettable. You probably already have a lot of it in your kitchen! She's fabulous!

Vermont doesn’t seem to have a lot of forest fires because our forests are still green, West Coast forests are tinder boxes and have been browning for decades so fires are a constant problem. Another issue is the massive development in areas that are naturally prone to wildfires and where things are worsened by people being there.

OP you’re the one that brought up climate change, bearing powerlines wouldn’t just be expensive but it would generate a great deal of pollution. All that digging is done by gas and diesel powered vehicles. Plus I looked it up, the old above ground lines cannot be repurposed for underground usage since they give off heat so you’re talking about scrapping all the powerlines in the state. Yes it would get recycled but recycling isn’t free, removing, transporting and recycling the lines burns fossil fuels. So your plan to future proof for climate change worsens climate change.

The recent statewide power outages we’re wild and yes most of it could’ve been avoided with buried power lines. But I kept track of the outages and 99% of the state had its power restored within three days, my house took two. And talking to people have been here longer than me this doesn’t seem like a common problem where half of the houses in the state lose power. This state doesn’t have a lot of money and burying powerlines cost several times more than above ground powerlines so that expense is going to get passed on to the average citizen to solve for an in frequent and very short term problem.

This isn't California, In cali, that downed line could burn counties and towns, that's expensive for the power companies insurance, here, it's just a few thousand people losing power, cheaper to fix it when it breaks

California buries it's power lines not because of the cost but because the cost point was decades of fires caused by faulty power lines. The northeast may start doing that in the future, with how uncertain climate change makes things

Grafton (pop 650?) has also buried most of its in town power lines

Frost heaves? I'm sure modern practice is to bury lines in flexible jacketing and address the ingress into buildings better, but I've worked in a situation where buried conduit was clearly compromised at two sites, causing water (and mud) to pour into multiple buildings. That said, my neighborhood has buried electrical mains.

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2000 sq foot log cabin with insulated roof. Oil and propane. Primarily use propane, about $250/mo average across a Rinnai wall heater (basement, used sparingly) and a faux wood stove (main floor). Keep it between 70-75 when this is running.

Oil forced hot air furnace backup. 275 gal tank, fill it once a season. So an extra ~$60/month across 12 months since I filled it at >$5/gal most recently.

Furnace is set at 60 most of the time, use it to warm the house to 70 in the morning and then propane rest of the day unless it's a super cold day.

Have good southern exposure, this can keep us from using the stove on a sunny day even in winter.

Money for sure. And as one dude said on here it’s easier to go thru the terrain vs dig underground. Mayyybe in Northern VT (St. Albans area) since it’s flatter terrain and less rocky.