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As rebuilding begins in the Pacific Palisades following the Palisades Fire, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is moving forward its plan to place 4,000 power lines underground, officials announced Thursday.
After the utility department replaced 800 power poles over the last two months to help bring power to the disaster-stricken coastal community, the ultimate goal is to move them permanently underground.
“We are committed to underground the whole area of Palisades,”Janisse Quiñones, the LADWP CEO, said, adding that the current cost estimation is “anywhere from $1 million to 14 million per mile.”
“We are also increasing the voltage in this area to increase capacity for a system,” she said. “We are upgrading to a higher voltage, and we are upgrading the substations.
Quiñones said FEMA funding and grants will help pay for the underground system, but officials cannot guarantee that the cost won’t be passed down to LADWP customers.
“We don’t know how much it will impact, but we are trying to mitigate that impact dramatically,” Quiñones said.
LADWP didn’t provide a timeline for how long it will take to complete the whole system.
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