Demco running power underground 150’ from transformer to house. Costs?

I am a little surprised they would want to charge you for infrastructure install upstream of your meter, especially if it is just the line between the Tx and the meter. Those kinds of costs are normally absorbed by utility and accounted for in one of the various monthly fees they gouge you with.

Cleco in st Tammany parish was around $7 a foot for them to run underground from the transformer to my house.

They don’t rent an excavator. They directionally drill and lay tubing as they go. It’s 100% better than a hole dug.

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Rent a mini excavator and buy a roll of pvc conduit and dig it yourself.

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Use direct burial cable and eliminate the conduit. Ought to be able to buy it for around $6 a foot from a wholesale house. Rent a trencher and run it down around 2-3 feet. Sleeve the wire at the house and meter end with 2 - 1/2" PVC. You may have an issue though if the transformer is already set and its a pad mount...the power company ain't letting nobody near the inside of that thing and it is going to be tough to dig under it. If it ain't set yet though no problem, get the power company to spot the transformer (show you where they are going to put it) and give you a diagram of wiring compartment. Turn the wired up in that area. sleeve it with some PVC and you're good. Depending on the size service of course....200 amp would be 4/0 - 4/0 - 4/0 - 2/0 quadruplex aluminum direct burial cable. 400 will be 2 of those, 600 3, etc etc etc.


They may not allow you to do this yourself though. If you have a home owners permit it should not be a problem but if you needed a contractor to wire it they will probably insist that a liensed contractor do it.

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Even my rural podunk coop, that ran 2.5 miles of line with nothing more than a handshake, still wanted me to pay for the last 100ft from pole to meter underground. Above ground thwy are fine with. Underground, out of pocket. To the OP, 1300 for wire, trenching, and connection

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Pretty standard. Most will run a pretty good distance over head but anything under ground costs the customer. They do do it pretty cheaply sometimes though. Most co-ops in my experience will do it for much less than a contractor would charge, basically for the labor. Sometimes they won’t do it at all. Technically they are not supposed to compete with contractors but the line side of the meter is kind of a gray area. Generally it belongs to the utility and an overhead service will always be a contractors to the weatherhead and drip loop but underground services are open to debate.

2 grand minimum