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How Are Underground Power Lines Affected By Underground Power Lines?

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Last week thousands of people were out of power for days due to power lines being interrupted during a severe thunderstorm. These power outages have forced city officials to rethink how power is supplied. Although underground power lines seem like a great alternative to the problem it will not come without sacrifice. Tallahassee electric department officials estimate it would cost $1.7 million per mile in Tallahassee to convert the city's remaining overhead wires. They base that on having done several conversions for developers who were willing to pay the city to. Most recently they converted wires in the Woodward Avenue area near College Town which totaled in the neighborhood of $300,000. Albeit this a small sample size, it is costly nonetheless …show more content…

"We've got to balance cost and reliability. And it would be very costly." In addition to the power lines, Talgov officials feel that trimmed trees could further prevent power lines from going down if they are not able to reach the lines. Antonio Mills, a Freshman Physical Therapy student from West Palm Beach, Florida feels that his power would have been fine had his tree been trimmed. "Near my house there was tree branch that hung about five feet from a power line," said Mills. "I always knew it would be a problem last week it took out the line I was out of power for like three days until the city repaired it." Despite it being comfortable for residents to maintain power through natural disasters, it will not be as convenient for their wallets. City officials estimate burying the city's overhead electric distribution lines underground would cost $40 million a year for 50 years. A method being considered to counteract the cost is to increase monthly utility bills. Some of the expected increases are listed below: Residential ($17.07),Small commercial ($25.60),Medium commercial ($512), and Large commercial

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