Issue of burying power lines resurface as electricity trickles back on in southwest Oklahoma

Question resurfaces: Why not bury power lines?

OKLAHOMA CITY — With each major ice storm in Oklahoma, the question seems to resurface: Why not bury the power lines?

The issue has come up again as electricity trickles back on in southwestern Oklahoma, a week after a winter storm left thousands in the region without power. More than 30,000 customers remained without electricity Thursday morning, although utility spokesmen said progress was being made in restoring service.

To complicate matters, another winter storm began moving into the state and forecasters were predicting the possibility of yet another one early next week.

Underground power lines could mean fewer outages during such winter storms. The problem is the cost of burying them, according to Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co., Public Service Co. of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives.

Burying all the transmission lines in Oklahoma would cost an estimated $27 billion, raising customers’ bills as much as $270 a month for 30 years, according to a 2008 report by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s Public Utility Division after an ice storm knocked out power to a wide swath of the state. Transmission lines are high-voltage lines that carry large quantities of power, often over long distances.

The report estimated the cost of putting underground all the distribution lines, which usually carry lower voltages and are used to distribute power in urban and rural areas, was set at $30.5 billion.

“You have to do those things that made good economic sense,” OG&E spokesman Brian Alford said. “You have to look at the cost-benefit of putting lines underground.”

OG&E has focused more on trimming back trees near power lines and other ways of making its system more resistant to outages instead of putting the lines underground, Alford said — although the company is not opposed to burying lines.

PSO began burying its distribution lines in 2005 but discontinued it in 2009 because of the economic climate, spokesman Stan Whiteford said. He said about 100 miles of PSO’s 20,000 miles of distribution lines in Oklahoma were buried during that time.

Whiteford said PSO hopes to resume the program — for which it can recoup its costs from customers — in the future.

Burying transmission lines is impractical, Corporation Commission spokesman Matt Skinner said, and those lines are what caused the major problems in last week’s storm. He said the commission has supported distribution line burial, “but the problem is who pays for it and how much.”

Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives spokesman Sid Sperry said member rural electric cooperatives reported about 20,000 outages on Thursday morning. He said most electric substations should have high voltage transmission service by midday Friday, but more work remains to restore distribution lines to some customers. He said it could take a week before power is fully restored in some areas.

Whiteford said PSO had about 3,600 remaining outages in the area, but those customers should have power by Friday. The Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority reported about 7,000 remaining outages.

In the Panhandle, meanwhile, Guymon Police Chief Eddie Adamson said 5 to 7 inches of snow had fallen since Wednesday night and light snow was coming down Thursday. He said roads in the region are very slick. Some schools in the area have canceled classes.

Last week’s storm led many districts to cancel school for multiple days, and although some districts built weather cancellations into their calendar, many have used up that cushion.

Oklahoma law requires schools to conduct a minimum of 175 instructional days or that equivalent in hours, which is 1,050. A law that became effective for this school year allows districts to increase the number of hours in the school day to meet the minimum standard.

State Department of Education spokeswoman Shelly Hickman said how the missed instructional time is made up is up to local school boards. She said some districts have discussed shortening their spring breaks, extending their school days or having school on Saturdays.