Burying Ottawa power lines would cost roughly $10B: Hydro Ottawa

Hydro Ottawa is pushing back against calls to bury all of the city's hydro infrastructure, saying the move would be monumentally expensive. 

During a briefing on the damage from last month's storm to Ottawa city council on June 22, Hydro Ottawa officials noted that burying power lines would cost roughly $10 billion, and would take about 90 years to accomplish. 

“It would never be approved by the Ontario Energy Board in any event,” said Jim Durrell, chair of the board of Hydro Ottawa to council regarding burying power lines. 

Hydro Ottawa president and chief executive officer Bryce Conrad said “it's not as simple as cutting open the streets and burying the lines.”

“It does also incur costs for the people, the companies and businesses along those lines, because you are now burying their electrical infrastructure to match our burial,” he added.