Cass County Electric working to restore power
Following Hurricane Milton, the CEO of Florida Power & Light said that power lines that were buried underground fared 12 to 13 times better than those aboveground, which raises the question of why they’re not just buried in the first place. Utilities in Florida have been burying more power lines underground ever since the 2004-05 seasons, when seven hurricanes caused major outages in the state. Generally, it comes down to money: Over in Wisconsin, the Public Service Commission found that a 69-kilovolt aboveground line costs $284,000 per mile to install, while an equivalent underground line costs $1.5 million per mile to put in the ground. Since ultimately those costs are passed on to ratepayers, they try to pick and choose what gets buried.
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