Underground Electrical Services

Underground service cables are connected to the utility company's pole and fed down a pipe into the ground. Then, they run horizontally through a bored hole in the ground and up into a ground-based transformer. The primary connection to the transformer is called the line connection.

In civil engineering, undergrounding is the replacement of overhead cables providing electrical power or telecommunications, with underground cables. It demonstrates the higher technology in developed countries for fire prevention and to make the power lines less susceptible to outages during high wind thunderstorms or heavy snow or ice storms. An added benefit of undergrounding is the aesthetic quality of the landscape without the powerlines. Undergrounding can increase the initial costs of electric power transmission and distribution but may decrease operational costs over the lifetime of the cables.