The work itself requires construction and any additional maintenance work may require construction (eg. digging a trench in the road / sidewalks). There's always some maintenance needed and I suspect vocal NIMBY people just don't want to tolerate any minor inconvenience, not simply any change.

Then again, maybe it's the same demand for power and independence that we are seeing with "Karens", masks, protests, Confederate statues, anti-intellectualism, conspiracy theories, etc. As individuals feel more powerless, they will almost certainly lash out at anything they can, including local utilities disrupting their life/convenience.

I doubt it’s anything too sophisticated, old retired people simply don’t like change.

They under grounded the utilities in my neighborhood. Took them about 3 years total. I'd wake up to the sound of guys jackhammering outside my window. For a couple of months contractors were using the spot in front of my house to stash their metal plates.

I think it was worth it. But there are crankypants types that hate any change because it's change.

Rocks. Frost.

Not all locations are amenable to underground cables.

Here is a white paper that lays out all the tradeoffs and includes some costs. New construction costs can differ between overhead and underground by 2-10x. Conversion costs aren't negligible either. https://www.eei.org/issuesandpolicy/electricreliability/unde...

From the paper it seams that overhead cables are also >10x more frequently failing, so I think that'll balance out easily.

Where I live, 99.9% of power is delivered via underground cables, I get power outages like once every 5 years. Brownouts are more often but usually not related to cable issues. America needs to catch up to the rest of the world there.

I think that also depends on the location. Might be true in places with lots of trees. Not so true in other locations.

It is complicated, as are most things.

It's not complicated. Burying a cable costs more upfront and is cheaper int he long run. End of story.

You're being too simplistic. If it were that obvious there would be no need for white papers and it would have been done already.

The actual cost of construction and maintenance are going to vary from place to base based on geology, existing infrastructure, weather, labor costs, regulatory oversight, cost of capitol, etc. So there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

There will be a dirt pile in their morning landscape view from the east wing of their estate.

Around here? Price tag. That's all.