bigshea13

that may be a little on the wild side as far as stats for the costs and longevity of the systems but it is a little more difficult to troubleshoot due to the fact that you cant physicall look at the conductors to verify a{break, burn, or other prob you can see visually with an overhead.\
as far as hook up costs...they would be about the same as a modern underground service entrance. the only difference would be that the utility guys would now use a ladder to get into a chamber to make the splices rather than use a bucket to do it. the costs are give and take in both directions. underground would require little maintainance as far as vegetation, pole replacement, damage caused by man or nature but they would require oversized conductors to reduce the I2R {heat}loss and they would have to be copper to reduce the corrosion.
hard to say really. you make endless arguements on both sides. it all boils down to cost. somebody is going to eat the bill and i ll bet you my life savings that in the end its going to be the customers.