Pacific Gas and Electric undergrounds 197 miles of power lines in a single year

As last month wound to a close, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) reported the undergrounding and energizing of 197 miles of power lines – the most in the company’s history, and with weeks of working time left to go in the year.

Even as it stands, the company surpassed its own record set last year, of 180 miles undergrounded. The program only started in 2021, though, when the company achieved 73 miles of undergrounded lines. If all goes well, the company hopes to hit a 350 mile target before the end of the year.

“For those who questioned PG&E’s capability to scale up our Undergrounding Program, our answer is simple – look at the results,” Peter Kenny, PG&E’s senior vice president of major infrastructure delivery, which includes undergrounding, said. “By the end of this year, we’ll have safely installed over 600 miles of powerlines underground since the program launched in 2021. This demonstrates we can successfully perform this important work while doing it at a lower cost year over year.”

At this point, PG&E is averaging energization to about 20 miles of undergrounded line per week – a pace it intends to keep through the end of the year. According to the company, the underground switch has helped improve air and water quality in the region due to lessened fire risks and greater protection of wildlands. Going forward, it also hopes to see it bring down premiums on homeowners’ insurance coverage. This could also help wallets in other ways, given that undergrounding will reduce the need for tree work and overhead powerline maintenance overtime.

PG&E noted that undergrounding eliminates around 98 percent of the risk of wildfire ignition from electrical equipment. The cost will be about $3.40 per month per customer, from 2023 through 2026.