It’s almost like clockwork these days in Maine. A powerful storm shows up at our doorstep, and just as quickly, the lights go off. After all, Maine suffers from the highest rate of power outages in the entire nation.
Those statistics make it rather easy to blame the companies that maintain the power grid in the state. But as storm severity increases, the infrastructure that Maine is built upon is starting to look very tenuous. Why did a state with so much coastline built the majority of its power lines above ground? The answer is complex.
Money
The top reason why the majority of power lines in Maine aren’t placed underground is straightforward: it’s all about the money. As astute homeowners in Maine have likely noticed, the majority of new developments in the state have utilities buried underground upon construction.
Facebook via Central Maine Power
The price tag is legitimate. Installation of underground…
