LIPA OKs policy on underground power line projects, but cost concerns remain

LIPA trustees last month approved a measure that requires all new high-voltage power lines above a certain threshold to be buried rather than placed overhead in a change hailed by politicians but that past LIPA studies have shown could lead to big rate increases.

The Long Island Power Authority highlighted the change in a news release this month that included positive comments from seven local political leaders, including Babylon Supervisor Rich Schaffer, who also is Suffolk Democratic chairman. The measure was passed unanimously by the board in November. 

LIPA already had a process for considering undergrounding for projects where feasible, though new transmission lines primarily defaulted to traditional overhead lines to save money. In 2005, LIPA did a feasibility study that showed undergrounding its sprawling lower-voltage distribution lines alone would cost $33 billion and result in a 157% rate increase for customers. In 2024 dollars that cost would balloon to $53.3 billion, about 13 times LIPA’s entire 2024 budget.

The new undergrounding policy changes "recognize the evolving threat of severe weather and climate change on our system," LIPA chairwoman Tracey Edwards said in a statement. "We’ve listened closely to our customers and our partners in government who have called for more undergrounding, especially in areas with consistent service disruptions."

Drew Biondo, a LIPA trustee, said he still expects LIPA to conduct careful cost analysis before moving ahead with projects covered by the policy.

"I think it’s good to have the policy in place, but before you say, 'Let’s underground,' you have to compare the cost of underground to overhead," said Biondo, who voted in favor of the policy. "I think in most cases running overhead is going to be a lot more cost effective."

LIPA didn’t respond to Newsday questions asking why the new policy didn’t include a cost analysis, including the potential rate impact of changing from the prior policy.

Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine said he met informally with LIPA's interim chief executive John Rhodes last month. "I’m going to be building a lot of sewers in the next three years and I’m going to be opening roads. How about we work together to bury the lines in the roads that I’m opening," Romaine said. He said he sent Rhodes a letter asking to work with LIPA and is awaiting a response. 

Romaine called burying lines "the best way to protect wires from falling during a storm or for outages." 

"The best way to strengthen the network is not by stronger poles; it’s by burying wires, and that’s been known for years," he said. "This will mean a more secure system for Long Island and fewer outages in the next storm."

Arthur Abbate, who worked for decades as an executive for the National Grid, KeySpan and the former Long Island Lighting Co., said while the new policy can be good for the public concerned about unsightly transmission towers or large poles, he added, "I hope LIPA has done their homework in terms of the amount of cost associated" with the change.

"LIPA has something like $11 billion in debt," he said. "They need to make judicious decisions. Yes, consider the public need, but is this something that’s going to put them deeper in debt? Those costs ultimately will fall to the consumers."

PSEG Long Island, which operates the grid for LIPA, in 2014 said that burying power lines costs an average $4 million to $6 million a mile and argued against burying lines in Port Washington because of the estimated $24 million cost for a four-mile stretch. Cost was also a factor the utility used to justify building "monster" poles that remain along County Road 51 from Riverhead to Eastport.

The 2005 undergrounding study funded by LIPA found that burying the distribution lines, which connect power to homes, "would not significantly improve reliability during storms," and that led then-LIPA chairman Richard Kessel to conclude doing so was "just not practical."

A previous 1998 LIPA study also found burying lines was too costly, at $14.7 billion at the time. Inflation more than doubled the cost in seven years.

Kessel at the time requested the board develop a policy to share the cost with local municipalities when those entities requested lines be placed underground. LIPA now has a policy to conduct a "visual" assessment when lines are buried at the request of governments or groups of customers.

In 2003, Riverhead Town and the Long Island Farm Bureau sued LIPA to force the utility to bury a new transmission line, litigation that ultimately was unsuccessful.

One problem with burying lines, according to LIPA’s 2005 report by Navigant, is that while they experience around half the outages as overhead lines, they can take 60% longer to repair when they do falter. The study also said underground wires connected to overhead lines are still vulnerable to lightning strikes and "more susceptible to erosion," Newsday reported.

Romaine said new technology has reduced those concerns. "There’s enough technology now to encase these underground wires so that water seepage will not affect them," he said. "We have underground wires all over the place."

He said most of the sewer lines Suffolk is putting in are on main streets and not prone to flooding. "You can bury the wires at less cost because of the road openings," he said.

In 2005, around three-quarters of LIPA’s higher-voltage transmission lines and about two-thirds of its lower-voltage distribution lines to customers were overhead, Newsday reported.

LIPA’s news release last week said the utility is evaluating "additional undergrounding on mainline distribution, particularly in areas with rear property lines and heavy tree conditions."

"This work, which involves underground bypasses to improve service reliability, is aligned with ongoing reliability projects funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency," LIPA said, noting that 40 miles of the work is already completed with nine more planned.

The LIPA news release offered that the authority will provide "more opportunities" for communities that want wires buried to "engage with their utility."

"LIPA has directed staff to convene an underground working group of key internal and external stakeholders to ensure awareness of existing programs, maximize cost savings by better coordinating planned work, and identify and help advance projects where communities throughout the service territory seek undergrounding solutions," according to the release.

"Better coordination can significantly reduce project costs while providing customer benefits including reliability and aesthetics," LIPA said.

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.