SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Eric Armstrong says there are a lot of benefits to living in Lincoln, California.

“Lake Tahoe is 80 miles to the northeast,” Armstrong said. “The ocean is 80 miles to the south-west. We’re right smack dab in the middle; geographically, it’s ideal.”

What You Need To Know

  • PG&E aims to bury 10,000 miles of power lines, which will reduce ignition risk from the lines by 98%

  • The company said it costs $3 million per mile to do so

  • PG&E is currently asking the California Public Utilities Commission to let it raise rates by 25% over four years to bury 2,000 miles of lines

  • Advocacy groups say the cost is too great for customers to shoulder and believe insulating power lines would be a safe and less expensive alternative

Living in his area also means living in a high wildfire risk zone, but Armstrong said it’s not a huge concern.

“Not too worried about wildfires in this area because we’re close to fire services,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of heavy forestation in this part of California. It’s mainly just oaks, and everybody has irrigation. Everybody maintains their property.”

Wildfire risk is even less of a concern now for Armstrong and his neighbors, as his street and an adjoining one have their power lines buried by PG&E, which the company says will reduce ignition risk from the lines by 98%.

“Everybody is pretty much happy for it,” Armstrong said, referring to the buried lines.

PG&E aims to bury 10,000 miles of power lines.

The company said it costs $3 million per mile and is asking the California Public Utilities Commission to let the company raise rates by 25% over four years to bury 2,000 lines.

The commission has returned with two counter options to bury much fewer miles of lines and insulate them instead for wildfire protection because the cost is so high.

An issue the utility consumer advocacy group, Turn, believes is critical given rates for customers have in the last few years increased by over 30%, outpacing inflation, executive director of Turn Mark Toney said.

“It is faster and cheaper and as safe to insulate the overhead lines as it is to bury them underground,” Toney said.

PG&E reports insulating lines only reduces risk by approximately 65% and believes the spread-out cost of burying lines is warranted, according to PG&E spokesperson Paul Moreno.

“This would be a cost of about $3.43 per electric customer per month,” Moreno said. “We feel that’s a very good value for the safety.”

Armstrong said the community worries about electric bill costs and talks about it a lot.

It’s part of the reason his house now has solar panels and battery storage.

“People out here aren’t millionaires,” he said. “Everybody’s very cost conscious about how everything you know, what we pay for everything, especially this day and age.”

Armstrong agrees wildfire safety and mitigation should be a priority, just as much he said as people being able to afford where they live.