Put power cables out of sight, say residents

By Paul Dykes
Jim Dearlove is upset that he and fellow residents of one of the Bay's richest beachfront roads have to put up with power poles they find an eyesore.
Powerco is replacing ageing wooden power poles with larger concrete poles on Papamoa's Karewa Parade just as city council engineers are replacing the street's stormwater services, footpaths and kerbs and channelling.
Mr Dearlove and other residents say this is the ideal time to put the power services underground, as the street is all ripped up.
But Powerco has ruled this out - despite appeals by residents and Mayor Stuart Crosby.
The seaward side of the 150-house street already has new concrete poles and Powerco wants to do the same with the western side of the street, where houses sell for ore than $2 million.
"There is now an opportunity to put the power cables underground, rather than put in more of these huge concrete poles that will be there for 50 to 100 years," Mr Dearlove said yesterday.
Mr Dearlove said Mr Crosby met some residents and tried to intercede on their behalf but a letter sent by council to residents said nothing could be done to change Powerco's plans.
The council is funding most of the power pole replacement costs and offered to put this money into undergrounding, the letter stated, but Powerco declined the offer.
Mr Dearlove is convinced it would be better to supply houses on the western side of the road from the concrete poles already in place by running underground cables, rather than duplicating the row of poles in the beautiful seaside setting.
"I think it's time we reclaimed our city from the power companies."
Mr Crosby said it was frustrating that common sense hadn't prevailed.
"I can assure you we worked very hard to persuade Powerco.
"It's not our utility. From time to time we might underground in the central business district but we couldn't find a budget for this extra work so early in the new financial year."
As a compromise, the council will install duct pipes underground wherever the power lines cross the road, for use some time in the future should undergrounding the power services become possible.
Council communication officer Frank Begley said the cost to relocate the power poles was roughly $70,000, with council paying $49,000 and Powerco $21,000. The cost to put the lines underground would be an extra $63,000. The total cost of the street reconstruction job was about $1.1m.
Powerco Network asset strategy manager Michael Whaley said the work was part of Powerco's wider investment in the development and renewal of the electricity infrastructure in Tauranga area, which represented an annual investment of between $12m and $15m.
"Powerco has a policy of replacing like with like - when a pole needs to be replaced, contractors install another pole.
"This is the most economically efficient means of renewal as the cost to replace overhead lines with underground cables is around six to seven times more expensive and does not significantly add to the security of supply or the network capacity."
New subdivisions are required to have buried services.<