JDMopar
Well-Known Member
I've worked for the power company for 40 years, with the majority of it as a lineman. I don't know who your power company is, but if they need an 80' right of way for a distribution line....they are 
! Ours are 30' wide for an overhead line, 15' from center on either side. That is plenty for us. If you're going underground, the cost of the wire is tremendously more expensive than overhead wire. Think of it this way. A 7200 volt overhead line only needs to be insulated where it touches a pole. An insulator and bracket that holds it are bolted to the top of the pole, and the wire layed on the insulator and tied in. Pretty inexpensive to do it that way. That same 7200 volt line buried in the ground has to have insulation built into the wire for the entire length, and it ain't cheap! It also has to have the neutral wire built into it and protected from the earth, which adds to the cost. I'm not defending the power company that gave you the quote, just trying to make sense of the costs involved. Maybe if you could dig the ditch and bury the pipe for them, it would ease the cost some. If they could split the difference between your new house, and new shop....they could run a service to the house and shop from the same transformer, instead of using 2 transformers. Unless your shop will be a really long ways from the house, you could put a 320 amp meter base on the house, and run the service to the shop from a 200 amp disconnect. You could also have a 200 amp service for the house. Before somebody jumps on the "That's 400 amps" bandwagon......a 320 amp base will easily handle it, and is according to the NEC code book. Hope some of this helped.
! Ours are 30' wide for an overhead line, 15' from center on either side. That is plenty for us. If you're going underground, the cost of the wire is tremendously more expensive than overhead wire. Think of it this way. A 7200 volt overhead line only needs to be insulated where it touches a pole. An insulator and bracket that holds it are bolted to the top of the pole, and the wire layed on the insulator and tied in. Pretty inexpensive to do it that way. That same 7200 volt line buried in the ground has to have insulation built into the wire for the entire length, and it ain't cheap! It also has to have the neutral wire built into it and protected from the earth, which adds to the cost. I'm not defending the power company that gave you the quote, just trying to make sense of the costs involved. Maybe if you could dig the ditch and bury the pipe for them, it would ease the cost some. If they could split the difference between your new house, and new shop....they could run a service to the house and shop from the same transformer, instead of using 2 transformers. Unless your shop will be a really long ways from the house, you could put a 320 amp meter base on the house, and run the service to the shop from a 200 amp disconnect. You could also have a 200 amp service for the house. Before somebody jumps on the "That's 400 amps" bandwagon......a 320 amp base will easily handle it, and is according to the NEC code book. Hope some of this helped.
