Cost to relocate electric service drop

Looking for a "ballpark" cost to have a residential service line re-routed.

Situation is a 45 year old house with overhead line from pole at rear corner of lot. The line angles across the yard at almost 45 deg angle to corner of house. A tree has grown in the middle of the yard that we do not want trim to the extent that would be called for because of the line. Would rather move the line, possibly using the garage roof as intermediate point. (Garage is free-standing in corner of back yard opposite to the power pole.) Lot is 60 x 100, line is about 60' long now.

Any ideas what a typical local power co. in large metro area would charge to do such a thing ??

Would rather not call the co., as they would probably be out cutting the tree before I could hang up phone ;-(

TIA, Reed

Reply to
Reed Hurtt
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This would involve work that is not normally performed by the utility -- moving the service entrance on your dwelling(s). Start out by calling an electrical contractor. You may need to relocated the service entrance to the garage and have it branch out to the main house.

Reply to
Bob

If you are gonna be throwing money at it anyway, I'd seriously look at buried service. A pipe down the side of the pole, buried cable, and a pipe up to the meter base. Never have any tree-trimming or local-drop related problems ever again, and no problems carrying ladders around. If phone and cable are fed from same pole, they can go in same trench, as long as the minimum distance from the power feed is maintained. House looks a lot cleaner, too, IMHO. Just route the trench around the drip line of the tree you are worried about. Might not even be that expensive, if you have the energy to dig the trench yourself, or can cheaply obtain the use of a ditch witch somewhere.

My father insisted on this setup in 1966 on the family house he built in central Indiana. Power company took some convincing, but went along with him. Since then, on high-end houses, buried service has become the norm, although in new subdivisions it is fed from pad-mounted cubes, not pole-mounted pigs. Can't remember the last time I saw a new-work aerial service go in, other than trailer or temporary poles. It costs more up front, but lasts a lot longer with fewer service calls, so the per/year lifecycle costs can actually be lower. Any competent electrical contractor that does new construction can give you a pretty accurate estimate after a

5-minute walkthrough, and probably tell you have customer-friendly the local utilities are about making said changes.

aem sends....

Reply to
aemeijers

Assumptions: a.) The overhead line eqpt. belongs to the local power co. b.) What you'd like is for local power co. to 1.) Disconnect, discard old line. 2.) Run new line attaching to other corner your house and routing from there (and attaching to your exterior wall) to your old service entrance (pigtails, etc).

I can well imagine lots of variability from 1 area to another. Most of 'em don't much like such special jobs. If you're lucky enough to have an elec. utility that is oriented to customer svc., perhaps $250-300. But that's truly a seat-of-the-pants estimate.

Not around here. If tree is on private property, they let it alone.

Puddin'

"Mit der Dummheit kaempfen Goetter selbst vergebens!" -Friedrich Schiller

Reply to
Puddin' Man

As others have said, the solution to your situation depends upon lots of variables, like who owns what. In my area the utility would have you do what's necessary to protect "their" service drop from "your" tree branches. I would think that the most sensible thing to do would be to relocate the service underground. The cost of that can vary wildly as well. In my area, there are two electric utilities. One allows direct burial cable to be installed. For me to run 100 feet 4/0 direct burial cable from meter box on house to riser on pole including trench, would probably cost about $2000. The other utility requires a 4 inch HDPE conduit to be run, so the same job would be another $500. In your area the utility company may do it themselves and charge a per foot fee. I'd suggest calling either a local electrician or the utility and ask some questions

Reply to
RBM

When I upgraded to 200amp service, it cost $2000. THe upgrade involved relocating the service entrance. I opted for burying the cable. $800 of the price was because I did not want to trench near a major tree and had them instead "thump" the wire thru. THey recommended 3 inch PVC drain pipe to put the cable in but that was just because I was going under my driveway and should I ever have to do it again they wouldnt have to rip the driveway up.

The first 100 ft of the burial was free (if they trenched). so basically my burial was free (except for the thumping).

So the electrician prepared the new service entrance (2 guys 1 day $1200) and Com Ed had their contractor do the trenching and cable laying ($800)

This was 6 yrs ago

Reply to
jmagerl

I've had this done TWICE Once in central California about 5 years ago. The line was interfering with a budding 30' redwood tree. I called the utility company and asked them to move it. Ok, it ran right across my gazebo too and was unsightly as hell. They moved it at NO COST.

Now, I live in West Tennessee. We had an overhead line that ran to our shop for an outside light that needed to come down with the pole and light. The shop was running on a line that ran from the house breaker box (I didn't build it, I bought it) . We wanted to run a direct line underground about

120-130 ft. from the electric pole to the shop. We had to supply the materials and conduit, this cost about $125. They charged us ONLY $60 for the permit and they supplied the wire.

Sooooooo... call your electric company, and ask THEM :¬)

Kate

Reply to
Kate

Oh AND, they ran the trench at no cost... I posted this once before, but it seems to have gotten lost.

Sorry if it doubles up later on

Kate

Reply to
Kate

All these stories of free or deeply-discounted replacement service drop installs / switches to buried service, don't surprise me a bit. It is real cheap insurance for them, as long as they don't have to set a new pole, pad, or transformer. A lot easier to change it out on a balmy summer day, than at

0200 on a minus-30 January morning. Plus, of course, every home owner whose power stays ON during nasty weather, is one less homeowner writing pissy letters to the state utilities people.

aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

All these stories of free or deeply-discounted replacement service drop installs / switches to buried service, don't surprise me a bit. It is real cheap insurance for them, as long as they don't have to set a new pole, pad, or transformer. A lot easier to change it out on a balmy summer day, than at

0200 on a minus-30 January morning. Plus, of course, every home owner whose power stays ON during nasty weather, is one less homeowner writing pissy letters to the state utilities people.

aem sends...

I think you're exactly right. If they do it themselves, then they don't have to worry about someone throwing a wrench in the works

Kate

Reply to
Kate

replying to Puddin' Man, gg wrote: in Illinois, com ed charges 850.00 to move line and 750.00 for the connector that clamps onto the middle of the line.!!!! What a farce!!!!

Reply to
gg

replying to Joe, gg wrote: Joe, In Oak Lawn Il we have to pay approx. 1,750.00 from Comed! That is for ...1. moving the line and ... 2. a connection piece that clamps onto the middle of the wire. UNBELIEVEABLE, HUH????

Reply to
gg

replying to Kate, gg wrote: You got off cheap!!! $1,750.00 in Illinois!!!!

Reply to
gg

How much would it have cost 10 years ago when the OP asked the question?

Reply to
DerbyDad03

And nobody has an electric drop anymore, since 2012 when everyone got their own M/AM R. So, replies to this post are completely useless.

Reply to
hah

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