Guest Editorial: Rich cities put power lines underground.

After Hurricane Irma knocked out electricity to 90 percent of Florida Power & Light customers, a familiar question arose from the dark: Why aren’t we putting electrical lines underground?

The answer, we’re told, is that burying power lines is really expensive and not foolproof. Underground lines do better in windstorms, but less well in wet storms. That’s because flood waters can damage pad-mounted transformers and standing water can hold up repairs. And unlike overhead lines where everything is clearly visible, fixing problems on underground lines takes digging . ...

But some Florida communities ... are digging deep to bury neighborhood lines. They’ve discovered it’s a false equivalency to frame the choice as “good in wind, bad in rain.” The evidence is in . ...

[FPL’s] 2015 reliability report to the Florida Public Service Commission shows that over a five-year period, its underground systems significantly outperformed overhead lines on three of four measures.

In 2014, for example, the report showed on average:

Overhead customers were without power for 108.1 minutes, compared to 19.4 minutes for underground customers.

Overhead customers had 1.35 service interruptions, compared to .4 for underground customers.

Outages lasted 80 minutes for overhead customers, compared to 48.7 for underground customers . ...

“We’re big fans of undergrounding,” [FPL] CEO Eric Silagy says. “Forty percent of our entire system is underground today … we’re supportive of it and want to work with any community that wants to do that.”

And therein lies the rub. For if a community or neighborhood wants its power lines buried, its residents must pony up big-time.

Now consider the list of communities that have buried power lines, or are talking about doing so: Palm Beach, Longboat Key, Gulf Stream, Winter Park . ... Notice anything? Rich towns are putting power lines underground.

We’re not saying this is a good or bad thing. We’re simply pointing out that today’s rules for burying power lines are giving rise to a rich-poor divide. And should it continue, we could see power inequality after big storms to come . ...

FPL would also have you know that since the weeks-long outages that followed Hurricane Wilma in 2005, it has spent $3 billion to improve reliability. The money went to reinforce above-ground poles and structures, trim trees, install smart-grid technology and put some equipment and lines underground. As a result, it says its post-Irma restoration performance was second to none.

Nevertheless, the utility missed its promise to essentially restore power in South Florida within seven days. Hard-hit Coral Gables has fined the company and threatened to sue. Its leaders also are talking about burying power lines, which the Miami Herald says could cost $250 million and require a tax increase.

Like other communities, Coral Gables may find its citizens balk at the cost . ...

We shall see how many more property owners are willing to pay $10,000, $20,000 or $30,000 over many years to largely avoid the disruption of power outages from afternoon thunderstorms and perhaps the big one.

But among the lessons of Irma is the realization that a rich-poor trend is developing in the push to bury power lines . ...

So unless we’re willing to open our wallets and bleed green, it appears we’re just going to have live with the century-old technology of stringing ugly power lines from pole to pole. And when some future hurricane knocks out the lights, visit some ritzy neighborhood for a hot meal and air conditioning.