Rural Living

[kcflhrc]

If I have learned anything in my 2 years living in the country, everything is expensive. And when you do a budget you may as well plan on doubling that figure and you should come out about right.

 

[ustmd]

This was 14 years ago, but the Co-Op here was charging $2-3 per linear foot for over head and gave you the poles for free. Going underground was $6/ft.

 

[Streetcar]

In any case, congrats on your homestead, and welcome to the forum. There is a wealth of information on here, and a lot of good people. We are in a similar situation except we haven't really done anything with our land yet since I have been overseas. My brother in law built on the piece of land next to ours and the power company rolled the cost of power poles into his bill, and he paid it off in installments along with his utility bill over the course of ten years or so. But I don't think it was anywhere close to the amount you are talking about. I think what he paid for was the labor of having the poles and lines installed, the power company owns the lines and poles, so they are the ones who bought the materials. This was in Ohio so different companies do things differently. I would like to do underground utilities as well (once we build). From what I am hearing, you can save money by digging the trench yourself.

In ohio the power company picks up most of the cost and owner pays remainder

 

[s219]

I wonder if any of this has to do with commitment to buy electricity? I remember that here, you need to have a meter base installed on a building, otherwise the power company is less "thrifty" with costs. I guess they want some sort of indication you'll be buying electricity for a long time. Maybe they will want to see a home being built before they bring out the normal prices.

 

[Dishpointer]

Every power company is different. Mine covered the cost of the pole to bring power across the street, the primary wire, a pull box, and the transformer. I'm in the middle of building a house on our 92 acres and wanted the house 1100' back off of the gravel road. The power company planner came out and I showed him where the house was going. He marked a spot for a pull box and another for the pad transformer. I hired a guy to do the trench and I worked behind him putting string in the pipes and gluing them up. The trench cost me $1100 and the conduit, sweeps, and string cost about $700. I also purchased a 320 amp meter can and two 200 amp disconnects. Since they charge for temporary power, I purchased a small 70 amp breaker panel and did my own temporary power outlet. The electrician wanted $6500 to do everything and I did it myself for around $2200.

Try and find out what you are allowed to do yourself. This is where you will save some money.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

When I purchased this house, I didn't know it at the time but there was no land line telephone connection. The outlets were on the wall in every room, but when the man from AT&T showed up one day to turn on the service, he asked me where the wire came in from the street. That's when I learned how to run a Ditch Witch trencher, riding it for 1300' from the street to the house. The phone company had to run a half mile of cable up the street to the nearest neighbor's place where the line terminated. At first they wanted to string it on new poles, but the immediate neighbor pitched such a fit they ended up running a trench down the middle of the road. That neighbor really blew a gasket on that one Anyway, it cost me $3500 to get the line to the end of the road, and about $650 for a couple days of trencher rental. The phone company provided the wire, which they laid and connected and I buried. Much of my trench was through what the locals call slate, and it was a real bronco ride at times on the trencher. It didn't help that a lot of the dirt ended up back in the ditch, and I spent a lot of time with a trenching shovel clearing it back out. Took me a day to dig the 1300' from the street to the house. Through a mix up on the rental company's part, the trencher was at the house for almost a week, and was put to good use trenching the ditches for a sprinkler system as well.

This was all in 2011, but I don't imagine rental prices have gone up that much. Talk to your power and phone companies and see what they say about letting you do the trenching. Even if you have to run two ditches, it wouldn't be that much extra expense if you do the work yourself. If you need to go through hard ground or rock, let the rental company know as there are carbide tipped teeth available for the trencher that make fairly quick work of it.

And if you do it yourself, consider burying an extra 2" conduit. No telling when fiber for Internet service might come along, or some equally handy utility, or just power/communications up to the gate.

 

[Mysfyt]

Last resort, start looking into generators. Sacrifice peace and quiet, though.

 

[coobie]

Hey all, newer to the forums.

We purchased 32 acres and are planning on placing the house to the back of the properties (or the middle to be more precise) so we can enjoy the open views. That being said, it means our driveway is 1300' long. Which in turn means an EXPENSIVE electrical run! The local utility (National Grid) is estimating $25k to run my power 1300 feet from the road to the house.

Anyone have a similar situation - what did you do? Can I dig it myself to save money and have them place it? I've looked at going off-grid, but the batteries don't tend to last long enough for a good ROI. Even the new Tesla batteries I'm a bit uncertain of.

I also need to run cable/internet feed as I work from home!

Thoughts/Suggestions?

Chris...

That $25K price is nuts.Overhead primary line should be MUCH cheaper than Underground wire.Has the power company actually sent someone out to your property for a estimate or are they blowing smoke over the phone?How do I know?I retired last year after 37 years as a electric lineman.

 

[Got2BTru]

That $25K price is nuts.Overhead primary line should be MUCH cheaper than Underground wire.Has the power company actually sent someone out to your property for a estimate or are they blowing smoke over the phone?How do I know?I retired last year after 37 years as a electric lineman.

They told me overhead would be MORE expensive (I'd rather have underground anyhow). I was told they wouldn't come on-site (a second time) for a concrete quote until I have something started on the property (kinda backwards, isn't it?). I figure perhaps I'll get the well dug or something.

I was hoping I could trench the hole using a ditch witch and then have them come do what they need to (I guess I figure that would be the most work intensive). Not sure at this point, but I KNOW I don't have $25k in the budget!

 

[coobie]

They told me overhead would be MORE expensive (I'd rather have underground anyhow). I was told they wouldn't come on-site (a second time) for a concrete quote until I have something started on the property (kinda backwards, isn't it?). I figure perhaps I'll get the well dug or something.

I was hoping I could trench the hole using a ditch witch and then have them come do what they need to (I guess I figure that would be the most work intensive). Not sure at this point, but I KNOW I don't have $25k in the budget!

Are they the only electric provider in your area?I assume you are running a single phase primary line?Make sure they put it in 4 inch Pipe for the full run.Ask them how much you will save trenching it yourself verses them trenching it.I had our local power company quote me a price to run 7 spans of overhead wire (1400 ft.)to my hunting cabin and was quoted $9,000-$10,000 bucks.IMHO that price is more in the ball park verses $25,000 grand.