Buried Power Lines

[Anonymous]

Power lines are buried in our neighborhood. What do you think are the chances we could loose power?

[Anonymous]

Mine are buried too and I lose power all the time. Our neighborhood is connected to above-ground lines as they run to the local substation or whatever they call those things. It's usually the substation itself or a transformer just outside my neighborhood that blows.

[Anonymous]

The whole system has to be underground for it to work, like in so many European cities.

[Anonymous]

I wish they would bury more of the lines instead of hacking up the trees. PEPCO cut the leaders of a bunch of trees which will make them die and come crashing down. Much worse than if a branch hits the power line. This way, the tree is more likely to hit a power line and someone's house.

[Anonymous]

Mine also are buried: we lose power a couple times a year -- the connection comes above ground somewhere, after all. I fully expect to loser power in this storm. I live in VA.

[Anonymous]

No way for us to know what your power situation is. What's the history been? Derecho? Recent winter storms?

We have underground power lines and apparently, a good path from us to the source. In the 35 years that my neighbors have lived here (so, obviously, in the seven years we've been here), our neighborhood has never experienced weather-related outages.

[Anonymous]

Our power lines are buried on Capitol Hill. We have lived here for twelve years and never once lost power - even during Isabel in 2003. What neighborhood are you in?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way for us to know what your power situation is. What's the history been? Derecho? Recent winter storms?

We have underground power lines and apparently, a good path from us to the source. In the 35 years that my neighbors have lived here (so, obviously, in the seven years we've been here), our neighborhood has never experienced weather-related outages.

Not OP, but curious about my situation/possibility of losing power as well. We have buried lines, NOVEC as a utility company, and didn't lose power at all during Derecho. I don't think we've had any weather related power outages in the 6 years we've lived here...

I'm feeling fairly secure, but we bought some extra water and have flashlights/batteries on hand just in case.

[Anonymous]

AMy lines are buried and, touch wood, I have never lost power in DC except for 30 minutes here and there for reasons unexplained, never in a storm. I'm hoping my luck continues. Good luck to all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine also are buried: we lose power a couple times a year -- the connection comes above ground somewhere, after all. I fully expect to loser power in this storm. I live in VA.

Water gets into the conduits, too.

[Anonymous]

We're in Gtown, buried lines. We haven't lost power for more than half an hour in the past ten years.

But worried about Sandy - this seems different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish they would bury more of the lines instead of hacking up the trees. PEPCO cut the leaders of a bunch of trees which will make them die and come crashing down. Much worse than if a branch hits the power line. This way, the tree is more likely to hit a power line and someone's house.

Storm related outages are reduced but it costs $$$. And when the lines do start to fail, it is long and slow getting them repaired. They have to dig up a street.

[Anonymous]

Ours are buried and we always lose power.

[Anonymous]

Our power lines are buried in Arlington. We didn't loose power in Irene, but we lost power with the Derecho.
I think the whole system needs to be buried.