Underground Utilities? It’ll Cost You. Local Officials, Experts Weigh In On Pros And Cons

 The Blizzard of ‘26 brought significant disruption to the region, from downed trees and wires to outages that left much of the Lower and Outer Cape in the dark for days. And with it came a question that is frequently raised in the aftermath of serious weather events.

 Isn’t it about time that public utilities be put underground? 

Eversource Spokesperson Olessa Stepanova said that “cost assessments” are still underway regarding the cost of cleaning up after last month’s storm, adding that expenses are filed with and reviewed by the state Department of Public Utilities. But public works and emergency personnel on the Lower Cape told The Chronicle last week that the 2026 blizzard was one of the most severe they’ve seen in terms of debris and damage.

 “I would say that this is the worst storm I've experienced in 35 years in the department, absent the tornado response,” Harwich DPW Director Lincoln Hooper said, referencing the tornado that touched down on the Cape in 2019.

So can putting utilities underground help the region sidestep the power loss and cleanup issues that typically come with winter storms? Local officials and experts questioned last week said there’s a lot to be considered in exploring transferring utilities underground, none more so than the cost.

“I know one thing, it’s not going to be cheap to do it, that’s for sure,” Orleans Public Works Director Rich Waldo said.

 “It would be an enormous undertaking, an enormously financial and disruptive undertaking,” said Chatham Select Board Chair Dean Nicastro. “But it would probably take a generation to implement it if you were to make it happen.”

 Stepanova cited industry data from 2023 that indicated the cost of “undergrounding” power lines to be between $2 million and $6 million per mile, “depending on customer density, roadway congestion, and other site specific factors.”

“Because of the extensive excavation and materials required, undergrounding is generally more expensive and can have a greater environmental impact than overhead options,” she said in an email.

David F. Russell worked for decades in the utility industry, both in the private and public sectors. He formerly served as chief engineer for the state Department of Public Utilities and also worked for the Board of Public Utilities in New Jersey before working as a consultant.

 Russell estimated the cost of installing and operating utilities underground to be two to three times more than providing aboveground service. And in rural areas such as the Cape, where there is more area to cover and connect, it can be even more expensive, he said.

 “It’s much more cost effective in dense, urban communities,” he said, noting that many cities have areas that are serviced underground.

 Bringing utilities underground might protect them from elements such as snow and wind, but it’s not a failsafe approach, Stepanova said.

 “Underground systems are protected from wind and tree damage but can face risks from flooding in low lying areas and heat during the summer,” Stepanova said.

 And while aboveground infrastructure is vulnerable to failure during periods of high wind and heavy snow, poles and downed wires are at least readily fixable, Waldo said. An underground failure, by comparison, can be much more difficult to resolve, especially given the need to dig up and repair roadways.

 “It’s an age-old question,” he said of talk about underground utilities. “From my background as an engineer, things can be done. Utilities can be put underground, but I don’t think it’s as simple as some people think.”

 In the 1990s, a committee was formed in Chatham to look at bringing utilities underground in the downtown area, but Nicastro said nothing materialized from those efforts. He also cited cost as one of the biggest impediments behind making the transition.

 “It would be something worth talking about, but I think it would have to be a regional discussion,” he said. “You couldn’t do it in just Chatham. You’d need the whole Eversource system to make it work.” The town’s zoning bylaw requires that utilities be placed underground in all new subdivisions.

 Without that broader, multi-community support, Russell said, individual towns likely would incur additional costs in the form of higher rates to allow for a specialized service in their community.

 “The utility is going to have to localize [service] for that community,” he said. “Because you won’t be able to spread the cost among all the customers, the cost becomes even more critical.”

 Bringing utilities underground might be an expensive proposition by itself. But Paul Niedzwiecki, CEO of the Cape Cod Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber believes that undergrounding should be one part of a bigger regional effort to strengthen and improve the region’s grid structure.

 “We need a more resilient electric grid,” he said. “We have to harden the grid that we have. And I think that in part involves undergrounding utilities where it’s feasible. You phase it in, whether we’re talking about a 10, 15, 20 year plan.”

 Beyond undergrounding utilities, Niedzwiecki said, a regional plan could explore other measures such as the use of microgrids and other evolving technologies, as well as offering incentives such as zero interest loans for home generators.

 Niedzwiecki said that in the chamber’s discussions with Eversource on working toward such a regional plan, the utility pointed to the projected cost of undergrounding as a concern. But he questioned those figures, saying that more exploration is needed to get harder numbers from which towns can make decisions about how to address the problem.

 “I think Eversource likes to talk about putting all utilities underground and giving you this big number,” he said. “That’s not what we’re talking about. What the chamber wants to see is a plan for making this grid more resilient.”

 Niedzwiecki said he envisions that planning for strengthening the grid could unfold in a way similar to efforts to sewer the region. While many balked at the cost initially, communities began identifying areas where sewering was feasible and worked from there.

 “I think we could do the same thing here,” he said. “The problem is we don’t really know what the number is until we have a plan. And the plan has to show us where it makes sense to do this, what the time phasing is, and will we use alternative technologies to do it.”

 While undergrounding on any large scale doesn’t appear to be on the horizon, Stepanova said Eversource doesn’t discount the possibility of undergrounding utilities if circumstances deem it the best and most cost-effective measure. Still, Niedzwiecki said, a regional conversation needs to be had.

 “We’re paying some of the highest rates in the nation, and we have one of the least reliable distribution systems,” he said. “There’s at least a disparity between those two, and I think people on the Cape, businesses on the Cape, have a right to ask that question. What’s happening? What’s the resiliency plan?”