Underground Power Lines

When electricity systems were first developed, the technology didn’t exist to put power lines underground, so they were strung along poles. While electricity and other services can be run underground today, cost and convenience are the chief reasons most of Nova Scotia’s 31,800 km of power lines are run above ground.

Many prefer that power lines are buried for aesthetic reasons, and because underground services are less susceptible to power outages. But when outages occur with underground lines, they are often harder to locate and take longer to repair. Burying lines in urban areas can entail digging up sidewalks and disrupting busy streets for extended periods of time. Outside of towns and cities, burying lines can disrupt natural environments.

It’s also about 10 times more expensive to install underground than overhead power lines. We take this into consideration because as a regulated utility, we operate on a cost-of-service model whereby the costs of providing electricity service – like installing new power lines – are shared equally among customers across the province.