Overhead facility damage is easier to locate than underground and is generally repaired faster than the underground line. 

Underground interruptions typically last longer due to more complex repair requirements but occur less often. Damage and corrosion of underground electrical systems often also cause additional outages and inconvenience to members. These issues are hard to predict because they are underground and out of sight of general inspections.

Storm winds can damage both types of systems causing outages. Overhead systems face outages resulting from trees and debris blowing into lines. Underground systems face outages from trees collapsing on above-ground transformers and switch boxes or from tree root systems uprooting buried cable when trees topple. 
While a neighborhood may be locally served by underground cable, all-electric service eventually comes back above ground and connects to overhead service, either in the neighborhood next door, or further down the street where overhead main lines and transmission lines move power from power plants and substations into our neighborhoods. Exposure to above-ground electric service from weather, animals, and trees is never fully eliminated.
 

It is the position of MTE and TVA that it would be unfair to charge all customers a higher price to cover the cost of new underground service, since not everyone wants to pay the higher cost of installation without the benefits it provides.

Similar to new service requests for underground, conversions take into account the requirement that MTE provides electric service to all its members in the most cost-effective manner available which is an overhead system.

To treat members across the territory fairly and prevent them from subsidizing the cost of new or converted underground facilities in another area, MTE’s policy requires the party seeking underground service to pay for the associated costs.
 

You may not realize it, but you did. For aesthetic reasons, many developers contract with MTE to bury their lines when they are laying out a new neighborhood or business park. The added cost for underground service is typically included in the price you pay for a new property.

The costs can vary widely and depend on variables such as:

• Whether local government requires electrical installation or wiring to be upgraded as part of your conversion.
• Whether an electrician will do the work to dig and backfill the trench needed to bring the underground facilities from the easement to the building.
• The length of the trench that's needed to accommodate the conversion.
• Whether the existing overhead "weatherhead" extends through the roof of the building, in which case you may need to incur the cost of roof repair as well as paint and aesthetics.

These costs and arrangements are separate from the work MTE would handle and are the responsibility of the member, just as they would be in seeking to convert from a septic tank to a sewer system or other similar efforts.
 

While conduit and cable can be placed underground, which eliminates poles and wire, transformers and switch cabinets need to be accessible to MTE crews at ground level for timely maintenance, outage repairs, rerouting power, and other functions.

The two key drivers contributing to the cost calculations are labor and materials. Depending on these factors, underground facilities can cost anywhere from $500,000 per mile to more than $4 million per mile.

In conversions, MTE's costs are significant. The work includes building a whole new system while operating the existing service and then dismantling the existing service once the new one is up and running. The higher costs also reflect the fact that conversions in older neighborhoods have a lot of issues associated with working in and around and avoiding impacts to other utilities such as phone, cable, sewer, gas lines, water lines, etc. Finally, all new underground components must be acquired and installed, including conduit, cable (wire), pad-mounted transformers, and switch cabinets. Additionally, shared main line work is usually required, which is even more costly than converting individual service and neighborhood lines. Typically, as a percentage of cost, dismantling runs about 15 percent, installing underground components about 65 percent, and actual excavation about 20 percent.

The logistics of converting an existing grid system in an established neighborhood can be considerably more expensive and disruptive to personal property and surroundings than, for example, building new.

For example, utilities often share poles above ground, so that if the objective is to move utilities underground, it's not just electrical service that needs to be considered, but also phone, cable television, and Internet service. This then presents additional considerations, such as different spacing requirements, boring and/or trenching needs, and ground-level switching boxes involved in providing each type of service.

Driveways, sidewalks, fences, landscaping, sprinkler systems, and yards may need to be torn up or may be inadvertently damaged if not clearly delineated. Ingress and egress to homes and businesses could be impacted for extensive periods of time.

Because permits are needed to change meter-related equipment, conversions in older homes and neighborhoods may end up triggering city or county requirements that homeowners/businesses bring interior wiring up to current code. This could require the expense of a licensed electrician and potentially extensive interior rewiring and remodeling.

Legal easements are needed from all conversion participants that allow MTE access to its underground equipment, including the above-ground components? and a number of people must agree to have the large green transformer box and pad or other switching boxes in their yards.
 

This question must be addressed by those utilities.

• Instances in which private property owners aren't willing to provide easements necessary for MTE to design and engineer the conversion.
• Locations where necessary safety standards and operational clearances cannot be met, for example extremely congested areas where switch cabinets cannot be installed with sufficient operating clearances.
• Areas were prone to flooding. (Excessive flooding can short out transformers, which then cannot be safely restored until flood waters recede.