Underground electrical service

I live out east and yes they are a bit ugly, but if they do as promised, I won't mind them when a cat 5 hits.  Other people have mentioned underground to me as well, I bet it would be in the 1000's per foot for installation as they are putting everything in conduit in Christiansted and would probably have to do the same.   It's not like the states where your typically going through just dirt.  I calculated the contract and footage for the new sewer lines in Fredricksted and it was around 1,000 per foot, although not the same, even if 1/2 that cost you would get about 14 feet of wire for the cost of each pole.  

Underground certainly has advantages -- but the property owner must then install and pay for the connection from the road to your house - underground -- quite an expense for many properties I think.

Not long after they were being installed on St John one of the poles cracked/broke when a limb from a tree fell on one on the anchoring wires.   It didn’t instill much confidence in me they this is a better solution than wooden poles for sure.  

We moved to the east end from Connecticut.  Our neighborhood in CT was new and the utilities were all installed underground, while surrounding areas still used aerial wires.  When we would get big winter storms, 9 times out of 10, we'd still have power while the surrounding areas were out for days due to downed power lines from snow, wind, or fallen trees.

It is an expensive, one time investment, but you only have to do it once versus constantly replacing poles and aerial lines due to weather, auto accidents, etc.

I'm not going to complain about the new poles.

Most days I'm just happy to have any power at all.