What if a customer doesn't want Dominion Energy to have access to his or her yard?
Dominion Energy will work cooperatively with property owners to obtain the rights necessary to perform the work. Property owners along a tap line would have to agree on a plan before it could be implemented.
Will customers be compensated for granting an easement?
Dominion Energy does not compensate for the easements required for the Strategic Underground Program. The Program is voluntary and customers can signal their support of the project by signing an easement. If we are not able to secure the necessary easements, we will look for other engineering solutions (viable routes).
When converting overhead service, will new equipment be needed?
A project team will meet with you to discuss the proposed project plan and layout. Some equipment will be needed - view some examples.
Underground lines come into the ground-level padmount transformer from below, where connections are kept safely inside and out of view. The location of each padmount transformer is ultimately determined by the electric load calculations and the route of the underground lines.
In some cases, we will adapt the meter base at the customer’s home to accept cables from underground, using a meter base adapter. Learn more about the meter base adapter.

Will electrical service to existing streetlights remain in place?
The focus of Dominion Energy's Strategic Underground Program is to convert the overhead electric power lines that serve an area or neighborhood, in addition to converting the line that serves your individual home or other existing electrical services (garage, streetlight, watchlight, etc).
Dominion Energy will maintain the electrical service to existing structures (i.e. streetlights, watch lights, garages) and will feed them from a new underground source.
Would this program involve digging up a lot of trees in customers' yards?
Dominion Energy plans to use directional drilling rather than open trenching, to minimize disruption to landscaping. We will work with property owners as we determine the acceptable routing for underground lines.
Directional drilling, also called guide drilling, provides a low impact way to install conduit and cables horizontally underground. A construction hole will be used as an entrance point for the directional drill to enter. The directional drill can go out up to 500 feet from the single entrance hole.
Some poles also have telephone and cable wires on them. Will these lines also be placed underground?
Dominion Energy will work with telecommunications and cable companies to explore the option to place their lines underground at the same time of our installation. Each project will be evaluated separately by the telecommunications and cable companies and when practical, the lines may be co-located.
What happens to the power pole if Dominion Energy moves its wires underground but the cable or telecommunication company doesn't?
Undergrounding of electric service could proceed, but the pole would have to remain in place for the customer to continue receiving phone or cable service. Because Dominion Energy would no longer have electric wire or equipment on the pole, the remaining service providers would maintain the pole and their lines.