The Power Company Charged me $52,000 for this!!
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- Опубліковано 1 гру 2023
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As an electrician, you’re completely right in this is exactly how we prep for wire pulls. String and vacuum. Never tried vacuuming mule tape directly but cool to know it’s possible. Also side note: mule tape has measurement markings printed the entire length. So you didn’t have to pull the mule tape out to measure. Simple subtract the number at the end to where your mark was. But 10/10
You have never used a "rat" with jet line?
You can use two vacuums of the same CFM rating and double yours suction power too. I have two old dewalt battery/AC combo vacs that I use in tandem and they work great. Simply plug the suction end of the second vac into the exhaust of the first vac. The key is making sure they’re identical vacs or have the same CFM. I’ve pulled mule tape 500+ feet with them on battery power and no issues where one by itself wouldn’t quite do the trick on 4” conduit
You mean, like, do math???
I have used this method many times myself. After you have the pull length it is easier to calculate the wire needed for the run.
I've done this many times but with 6"pipe using a commercial compressor and a mouse you don't want to be close to the pipe when the mouse comes through or you can get very wet as it will spray about 10 ft in the air
Hey Matt. If you feel the electric company overcharged, you can open up a claim with the Pennsylvania Utility Commission. They are the agency put in place to protect the consumers from predatory practices of the utilities. I've had to open claims against National fuel a couple times for doing estimated final readings when tenants moved out. One time even when the gas was shut off they tried to stick me with a $300 bill. Anyways, it's free and if they charged for work that you already accomplished on your own as part of the job it may well be worth it.
He was supposed to sue them
Having a career with a state regulated utility, I can assure you that many of those costs and fees charged were set by the regulating body itself. Much is considered, including future consumption. When you get out into the network, no, you're not going to get to do any of the wire work. Everything will be done and determined by the utiliy because they're legally on the hook for everything.
@@johnhouchins3156 Then I feel for the price they’re charging they should’ve laid all the conduit. For hell sake they basically had their hand held for them, all they had to do was the bare minimum. Total BS
If I had £52,000 to spare I'd totally use it to invest in an "off grid" solution. He's still going to have to pay regular bills and a large part of that charge will be for infrastucture that he has already paid for outright.
Everybody wants to 'feel' like this is a ton of money for the task.
I'm in California. I've done dozens of these transformer runs for utility connection. I've cleaned up every site after the utility AND never seen one under $35k.
We had a 1/2 mile run for 2 homes, rn tandem 3" PVC to a pad mount and paid just under $100k.
My grandmother recalled when electricity was brought to their farm in Chemung, NY in the Southern Tier. The electric company ran a free line on a few poles to the house but only if they bought two appliances. The got one electric light and a toaster. Later, small fractional horsepower electric motors revolutionized the farm in many ways. It was a huge important change.
Lots of folks in Tioga Center who still don't have electricity to this day... course, that's because they don't pay their electric bills. 🤣
I had a similar experience with the power company. They wanted 80K to pull a few poles to my remote house. I told them to f*** off and I installed solar. Best decision I ever made.
I don't know for sure, but there may be more to it than that. The power company may incur liabilities way into the future, caring for easements, restoring power after some unforeseeable but statistically likely outage, maybe even more serious potential issues, things that could cost way more than the supplies and labor to run the line. I would imagine they just don't want to serve remote customers. Nowadays, fortunately you have much better options with solar and batteries, maybe even in some places geo-thermal ... and, as far as the power is concerned .. well, it isn't and you are on your own.
$52000 would buy enough solar and batteries to power him for a week without sun...🤷♂️
Yeah after he said he went 52k for them to just charge him an electric bill. I was thinking, he could build a whole solar farm for that cash and have the company pay him! Cannot believe he accepted their very inflated deal.
Very nice! When I start watching the video, I was thinking the exact same thing! For 52K, you can have a hack out of solar/wind and battery set up!
Got to love monopolies
I was a tradesman welding in oil and gas industry, for locals and farmers. It does not matter what I did or where I did it I cleaned up after and did not leave a thing behind and for 52000.00 there should not be a speck left behind. Great job Matt and congrats on an ever expanding work space. I appreciate your ethic and the integrity of your channel! All the best in the season up and coming!
Public utilities are legal monopoly’s. The few humans that operate a monopoly become wealthy and politically powerful. The reason they don’t include the copper wire is that copper itself is a commodity and subject to the open market regarding its pricing. Monopolies hate dealing with uncontrolled open market stuff any more than they have to. As you found out while trying to get power to your work shop. They feel what their customers (you) have to say about their golden goose monopoly is not worth their time, which by the way they include in their billing at open market pricing.
For $26,000 an hour it could’ve been cleaner
We worked in Drs offices, clinics & hospitals, all the trades would leave us a mess to clean up, the rooms floors were there trash cans - though one was left in the room PROMINENTLY MARKED 'TRASH' . They always appreciated that whenever we worked, no matter how much crud and trash was generated, when we left, their rooms were spic & span, floors cleaned, and equipment wiped down to hospital sanitary specs.
At our hourly or daily rates, we could not afford to do less than 'turn key' whether install, repair, or periodic maintenance.
I used to joke with new guys they were training to become the highest paid janitors in the US.
What a shame that this situation has been let develop and continue to rip people off, especially nice folks like Matt.
Did the $52,000 include the copper wire inside the conduit ?
You should make a shadow box to hang on shop wall with power company's needle nose pliers in it with an engraved brass plate that has date you got power and maybe "worlds most expensive pliers" with their $52,000 cost. I am sure it would give anyone seeing it a chuckle.....and it could be seen in your videos when filming in shop. Great channel!
Ha!
I like that idea
My exact thoughts...but extremely happy for you and the end of this ordeal.
I'D FRAME THOSE " $52,000 pliers".
It's the electricity to light they pliers that cost 52k. Not the pliers
In the 80s, someone at work was selling shirts that said, "VEPCO has Virginia by the bulbs". It wasn't long before the company banned wearing those to work.
Now they have 'Dominion' of the state.
I pay $250 a month powerbill for a 500 sq ft apartment
@@TrashwareArt Might want to have them check your meter, that seems extortionately high.
@@TrashwareArt yeah, you gotta figure out whats wrong there.
Mr. Creek, you are living the dream. I’m an equipment operator turned foreman in the gold mining industry in rural Nevada. Seeing all this vintage equipment saved and used warms my heart, especially the old shovels and dozers. I think that’s 52K well spent to be able to continue work on what is shaping up to be an incredible property.
I'm a real believer in paying a little extra to buy quality tools. However, I think $52,000 is a little much for a small pair of needle nose pliers! 🤣 Congratulations on getting it done.
yes ,very expensive pair of pliers, you should have them framed Matt
That's too funny, man you would be fun to work with.
Those are government prices..
@@stevewilliamson4635 LOL! Like the power company is "the government"... No, it's a very rich company.
@@NigelTolley I was referring to the comment about 52,000 dollars just for needle nose pliers...the government is notorious for charging 6,000 dollars for an American standard toilet..not including installation..!!!
I will be watching this on my television. Just wanted to put in a comment and say that $52,000 is a lot to pay. Especially given that you did the majority of the work preparing the trench.
Typical town/city/government type company to bend ya over and take all your money for minimal work. Very sad and disgusting. Especially like you said he did most of the damn work
1/ 2mile of copper ain't cheap.
Who cares what you're watching this video on
@@nicholas4839Because the video is so dang well made.
👍👍👍
install the primary outside your property , and pull it onto your property yourself. Thats what we did on a long pull too our lake to supply water too a hog barn. They dont have too have the primary at your house...
At 2200ft the voltage drop would be massive. It would also require much larger wire which would cost much more than $50k.
No it wouldn’t you bing bong. The voltage is too high for any issues. You need about 4 miles plus to use a regulator bank to boost back up voltages. Even then most times you’re good.
30:35 When you said 'sketchy' earlier. I didn't realized the plug you had on there. LOL.
There's no denying it. Power company will always get theirs!
This is what happens when the Goobernment creates/allows a public utility to have a monopoly stranglehold on a geographic region.
Just wait until everyone and their brother have the electric company in high demand to install their automobile battery recharge stations - it will be just one more checkmark on the long list of "progressivism" and their love of bending-you-over via state sponsored extortion!👍
@@tetedur377 ^^THIS^^ Remember kids: Monopoly's are okay, as long as the gov't (and it's subsidiaries) is the one benefiting from it.
All about the shekels. Some of those Israeli shareholders still haven't gold plated their driveways 😢😢 Gravel is NOT befitting of gods chosen people.
@@tetedur377 not sure private monopolies are any better... See the absolute state of the water utilities here in the UK.
The issue is a lack of regulation and oversight. I don't care if a utility is public or private, provided it's held accountable to the public, and our money is being used on investment, not inflated shareholder bonuses.
As a retired IBEW Electrical worker I am surprised that they showed such disrespect to you and your property.
I'm sorry sir we were trained how to act in public.I don't know if these people were union people or not but everyone knows you don't leave a mess when you leave a job.
Glad to see that you finally got power.
Thank you for sharing your videos with us.Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New year.
I’m IBEW as well 26 years, I make it a point I have everything cleaned when you’re done with your job!
As a former industrial electrician I have seen both IBEW and non union leave jobs like this all the time, it seems to be just an electrician thing. I am my crew were never this way at all. After I started working in hospitals it came even more important to clean up after yourself, but again contractors coming in don’t always care anymore. I would have never left a tool though and that’s a fact, that stuff cost money.
After 40 years in the industry and retired from local 3 ibew, I have found that electricians do not like to clean up after themselves!@@irunwire8528
I don't want to say it's a generational thing, because I'm sure it happened back in the day, too, but yeah... Some people take pride in what they're doing and make sure it's done to the very best of their ability, leaving the site the same or better they found it. Others just doing it for the paycheck ... and it seems like this is the more prevalent these days.
The clean-up is your reputation if you are a private contractor but as a carpenter I have rarely met an electrician that does so but those chaps, I guess, know they won't be back and at least Matt has power now.
Reading the other comments suggest to me that we trained at a time when pride in your work came before the pay check, as an apprentice our motto was "Do it once, do it well".
We dinged a poorly placed meter in our drive way a bit back, and they gladly sent 2 trucks and 3 guys to replace the meter housing (some light tin metal that I could have bent back, zero damage to the meter or wiring) and swap the meter over in 10 minutes, proceed to sit in the driveway for another 20 or 30, then leave and bill us for 1200 dollars. Traditional work crew too, 1 guy dug the hole and did the work while the others talked about something else entirely.
Just for comparison, I installed an underground feed 14 years ago from the highway to a location 3900 feet away on our farm. This is in Ontario so requirements are quite different from that in your location in the US. The primary wire was basically a large coax cable about 1 1/4" in diameter and good for 16000 volts if my memory is correct. Even though I am an electrician myself I hired a contractor to help due to the size of the job. An excavator was used to dig a 24" trench up to 5' deep. A stone slinger layed 6" of sand in the trench as well as on top of the cable after installation. The only conduit used was at the pole to get into the trench and at the other end where the cable entered the concrete transformer base. The transformer base also had a ground field installed around the perimeter as well as the installation of the central metering base. The total cost was just over $42,000, $20,000 of which was for the aluminum primary coax cable. For the pad mount transformer, I only had to pay the difference between the cost of a pole mount and a pad mount. This gives me enough for approximately 700 amps at 240 volts. I know that here have been lots of increases in costs of just about everything in the past couple of years so no idea how much this would cost today.
Could you have put in 600V or was it not available at source
I assume you are talking three phase 600 volts. This would have required a lot more costly underground cable. Three phase was available at the source. @@richardgadoury8452
@@richardgadoury8452 What he said was 240 on the Low End(user end) of the XFMR. He said the high side was 16kV. 600V would mean he would need another XFMR for all normal loads.
Yep for sure on the cost part. Construction prices in the US have nearly gone up 50% if not more since covid.
I am SO glad I decided to go totally off-grid on our property. We were looking at an 800' to 1000' run of buried line from the closest pole to our home site on our 30 acre property. The cost for that would have been around 15K not including any other items to make the actual connection to the house. We went with solar (and are looking at micro-hydro for 24/7 power generation from our creek) which came in at around 18K so far. We can generate far more power than we can use or store during most of the year, and in the winters here, we supplement the lack of sunshine with a propane generator to charge our battery array. At present, we can get 2 to 3 days worth of power from our batteries for snowy, rainy or cloudy days. We'll be adding some more solar panels and a few more batteries to the system and if we add the micro hydro, we can generate 1 to 1.5 kw/hr 24/7 to keep our batteries topped off even during the longest periods of no sun. And no power bills.
@ucsncinc That's totally awesome! I bet you never have to replace batteries either so no recurring upkeep costs. Am I right?
Hydro is the best en you can use it 24/7 365. Would love to have that.
@@DarkFlamageWhen they will have to replace batteries in 10-20 years, there will be Sodium ion batteries that cost much less than today's lithium. So yes, recurring cost, but a) not so much and b) you probably don't know the smile it puts in your face, when you don't have to pay for electricity or when there's a power outage...
It's the same as a propane conversion on a car (at least here in Europe). It costs you 1-3k initially, but the smile in your face, every time you fuel up at half of the cost, priceless.
I have 5.2 kWp solar on my house and shop, with 35 kWh of old forklift lead acid batteries and a 5kW inverter. Just about to add another 8-9kWp of solar on east and west, to extend my autark. At the moment, I don't use any grid power from February to October, including hot water, air conditioning, and some electric heating during spring. Only in winter, I need like 3-500 kWh (yes, so little) from grid. Thinking of better putting a Lister diesel as a heating-power-plant.
Yes , solar is the way to go. All I can say is ....Matt I wish you would have given more thought to solar.
I shouldn't have to. The batteries are good for about 20 to 25 years of charging cycles and warrantied for 10 years. As long as I take care of the equipment, it should last for years. But I've made plans to keep a little something set aside in the event I do have an issue and need to replace anything
As a retired old electrician, I can say that the power companies around here usually pro-rate based on expected future KWh usage. I am a bit shocked by the 52,000 when you have a semi-commercial shop and a residence both going in. But when you live out in beautiful countryside instead of suburban hell, that happens. Congrats on having it done. Glad you found out about the vacuum trick, we always used that when it was available. Works a treat.
Mine will pull 250 feet before they even start charging you and everything after that is prorated. It does matter how it is zoned and if you are currently building though. Residential they won't prorate at all unless they see a residence going up on the property before they pull it. They won't let you pull your own here since they don't know if maybe you branched something off underground.
Thank you Norway for inventing the vacuum technique to pull wire.
@@swedishpsychopath8795, What!! I’m pretty sure that Thomas Edison invented the vacuum so he could pull wires, he did that right after he invented electricity! I think it was the second thing he ever invented, just for that reason. lol
Great Video! For $52 K, you’d thing these Overpaid Prima donna’s could at least clean up their mess 😢. Everybody is entitled today, it’s the world we live in. The work you did, was perfection,learned a lot, but then again, I always do . Enjoy your new power!⚡️ 😊❤
@@swedishpsychopath8795 Norway invented space?
Years ago I worked on generators. A customer I went to do a start up on a 400Kw generator had your same problem. They wanted well over $2000,000 to bring him 3ph. He had 1ph near the site. It was a rock quarry. He did the math and figured out he could buy a generator, use the single phase for basic power and run the block heater on the generator. Between the fuel cost and price of the generator it'd take him 4 years to break even, after that he was saving money.
Back in the early 90’s, pre DSS, I worked for a cable TV company and in some rural areas people were quoted $10,000-$20,000 for coax to be installed. Sometimes right of way fees had to be negotiated or paid, utility poles installed, distribution network had to be designed and equipment bought.
Power Co tried to charge my folks $120k for running 100mtr inside property to house. Turns out they had to upgrade street lines and tried to add that to the bill. When that was rejected they said how about $60k for the 100mtr trench. That was rejected & my folks managed with a generator for a few yrs. Eventually they got the trench in & mains power but whenever there was a storm & branches cut the lines it would take 1-3 days to be fixed being a rural sector. Last yr my folks went Solar with battery so if the power goes they don't lose perishables.
God damn criminals!!
For less than that today they could be 100% offgrid.
@@davefroman4700 Please explain.
@@alanrogs3990 Solar is dirt cheap today. You can get 20kw for under $13k today. And even on a cloudy day it will still produce more than enough to keep a 30kwh battery system ($10-$12k) happy. You put in a 5kwh backup generator to charge the batteries if needed in the winter? And it still will only run 4-6 hours a day. The average household uses less than 25kwh a day.
$120K buys one heck of a battery and solar system.@@alanrogs3990
I would suggest that you build a really solid steel frame around the transformer and junction boxes. Protects them from falling trees and somebody backing into them.hust make sure you make the frame in front of the doors removable for access. 😊
"somebody" ;)
bollards ? is that what your trying to say
dont roof over it
Great suggestion!!!
Totally agree for 52k they're probably diamond encrusted 😂😂
Absolutely!! Nobody and nothing would ever hit them...😮😂
You have a good show, and a person can learn from your experiences-even if they have no Diesels in their garage
Thumb up
Matt, I love your video, and you have a great property and shop. In terms of cost, it cost me 18k to put in direct burial cable, 8 years ago in Colorado, including the setting of the transformer. $18 per foot. It was hell digging in the rock, and conduit just doesn't cut it here. As a plus, I received $3.5k back when the adjacent neighbor ran power to his place. Given the cost of things today vs 2015, and the price of both labor and wire, while I understand your frustration, all things considered I say at $23 a foot, even with your work, that you got a pretty good deal. If anything goes bad, the power company is on the hook to fix the cable and everything else associated with the installation for life. All in all, your project looks great! And you're blessed. Merry Christmas
Thanks! Hope this'll help with some material costs! Good to see it's has been working for you. Still waiting for an update on the overhead crane. Scott from California
He just needs another $51,950 more.
@@calholli I will never understand people who donate to yt'ers who have 500k+ subs and good view numbers, they are giving money to people who make more than themselves, its hilarious actually.
@@DinDooIt The world is full of simps.. I don't know where they come from
Most generous of you and given from the heart it's worth thousands.. Some don't undersatnd that..
Thanks a ton!! ill be working on the crane here eventually. still gathering pieces to that puzzle.
I work the telco side, and we pull U/G cables via same method. We jet thru or on shorter runs, rod/mandrel thru, a pull string/mule tape. Then use it to pull through our cables. In some districts they have a jetting machine to directly jet thru fiber cables.
At my farm there's a power pole that has the HV feed from the line coming into it underground. The feed runs up the pole, then back down the pole to a transformer that sits at the base of the pole. There is no need for that pole, the HV feed could go right into the transformer. But to have the power company do that would have been over $10K in 1980's dollars. Doesn't bother me any, the pole isn't in the way. (The reason the pole is there is that the HV lines used to be above-ground and there was a transformer at the top of the pole).
I live in Maine and I did everything from the excavation to installing the line they required to my shop which was 1080'. I bought all the wire and installed so we didn't need to use CMP. After paying all the materials not including my time the electricians to do the meter hook up and all the fees associated I was at a little over $21,000. Your setup was twice the distance and they pulled the power cable and supplied I actually think you got a good deal other then its stupid expensive for what it is. The only reason we did ours was the waiting list was much longer then yours due to Covid. With that having power is worth the pain to the pocket in my opinion.
That's interesting.
An electrifying episode!
Glad you are all connected up, but for $52k you would have hoped they would clear up properly after themselves.
their sparkies, Im shocked it was a clean up as it was.
For $52k they should massage you in a deck chair while they dig the trenches and all the other work.
You did a good thing to get this done now! Your shop looks awesome and love all of the older "vintage" equipment you have. Great video and thanks for putting that together for us to watch.
The power company charges a lot of money but those guys do amazing work. Ten years ago a bad storm hit the town i lived in and it looked like a bomb went off. The power company swooped in with a bunch of different crews from all over the state (WI) and they had us up and running within a day and a half. I thought we were going to be without power for weeks. We had whole blocks of power lines down in the middle of the street and trees everywhere. They did amazing work and they were even nice about it.
Matt, my husband introduced me to your videos and I gotta say, you're my favorite channel from his selections. For some reason, I am never bored with what you do or teach me about your love of mechanical stuff. You've got to be the hardest working UA-camr I know. You're a genuine hard-working nice guy. Hey, everyone, let's get Matt to a million subscribers for Christmas starting with me. Hey, fellas out there watching Matt, get your wives and girlfriends to add him on too! Thanks, Matt!
Not all our lasses are interested in this stuff
@@Niander101True enough, my friend. But if they don't, then they never truly appreciate their man.
Chill out
@@Niander101 Doesn't matter if they're interested, the body count is what matters.
@@eric_seguin my point exactly 👍
I checked on a run like that at my place in south Texas for overhead and it was about $40,000, but that was 5 years ago. The power company has a cost estimator on their website so I just calculated based on 2,600 feet and today's cost is $66,434 for overhead and $111,800 for underground. The good news, if any, is that these costs are all inclusive. Looks like you did OK.
Never would have expected a run to cost that much. Its not even a three phase commercial property. Yikes. Who is the power provider in STX?
It's funny he's so bitter about it. Nobody said running electricity to the middle of nowhere was inexpensive. It's why everybody doesn't buy land and build a house. That's good and all, but if you can't afford to run water and electricity there.. it was all for nothing.
It has been almost 30 years since I quit the field work but these prices seem outrageous.
Wow, what they charged was insane. That's over 5 times more than we paid to have our electric buried a little over a quarter of a mile into the timber to the house, barns and grain bins and we didn't do any of it ourselves, but we have electrical co-ops in rural areas. If they profit we get the dividends which are generally small if anything at all because most of the "profits" are used to upgrade services and repair storm damage or set aside for that. It works and has been so much nicer than having some public utility with outside investors. Many of our phone/internet companies work the same for those of us who live rurally or in small townships.
Saw on another Y.T. channel, they made a small building near the pole by road, had power company set transformer near that and saved a ton of money. Then had a licensed electrician run wire to main building
Matt ,you can claim a credit on your taxs for energy efficiency improvements made to your home and property using form 5695 and it equals 30 percent of certain qualified expenses. Hope this helps lower price it cost you for the shocking amount it cost to get power. Keep up the good videos.
Taxation is theft.
Very fine point!
52k is a bit absurd but as a lineman there is a bit more that goes into the process. Factor in the cost of the primary cable (we use 2/0 aluminum primary cable for this type of service), medium voltage elbow on transformer side (possibly additional elbows in junction boxes. Not sure of that style junction), medium voltage termination on pole side plus possibly a cutout and other hardware to run cable up pole and connect to existing infrastructure. Again 52k is a lot but having the equipment and manpower to come out and energize the service isn’t cheap and the power company is obviously making a fair bit as well. Primary cable is also a bit more involved to terminate than your regular 600v or 1000v secondary cable.
My suspicion was that the power company wanted to make sure nothing went wrong with the pull, like a gash in the insulation or sketchy splices in the middle that could overheat and cause a short later on.
He said he is supplying the cable for 15k he paid they're just pulling it with the string he also had to install
Not to mention taking responsibility for the entire installation from that point on. People seem to take that for granted.
@@Monkeh616 Yeah, it's like the people who drive without motor insurance and get into a car accident. Like, whether or not there's price gouging involved is a separate issue, but regulations exist for a reason!
@@nathangandara9607 $15k was for the conduit and renting the trencher.
I don't know if this would work for you legally or not, but one solution is to "land" all the public utilities at your property border. Build a concrete building / "pump house" / whatever right at the property edge. Have them step it down to 120/240 200a or 120/208 if you need 3 phase. Put some pumps n shit in there. Then when they turn the power on, use a PRIVATE step up transformer to get your 7200 or whatever, and then a step down at your house and barns.
Good idea! Another solution is spend that $50,000 on off-grid solar.For $30,000 he can build 100 KWH battery bank and the rest on panels and inverter capacity. In the conduit he could run a #4AWG to assist the solar inverter to keep the battery topped off. Having built a similar setup but with much less capacity,I have been surprised how little grid power we consumed. I’m powering 2 houses with combined areas of 6 br and 6 adults.My grid power bill in August 2023 ,the hottest month was $30.02. We only had one power failure in the last year but we only noticed it because our internet connection,which I haven’t moved off grid,dropped off for a little while.
@@danielking2944 Are you running any shop machinery there?
@@turboponies well, off grid systems can actually run shop machinery pretty well: multiple inverter manufacturers support 3 phase operations by connecting multiple inverters. The issue is more about how much you use the equipment IE total power draw. If you only use your shop tools a few hours a week, you can work it into an off grid system pretty easily. But if you're using them a few hours a day? That'll be a really beefy system.
Personally I prefer hybrid systems.
For example, with solark, you can buy 1x 18kw inverter which has grid input, generator input, house output, and on the DC side, solar panel input, and battery bank. You can then connect 2x 18kw solark units to the same battery bank, put them in a three phase setup, and have up to 200 amps at 120/208 3 phase. All with a system that can be partially or fully off grid. The solark when supports selling power back to the utility if your situation allows for that.
@@PsRohrbaugh Yeah, I can vouch Matt of @DieselCreek will run it only sporadically. There's no need to build a professional shop and expand for it. And he wouldn't mind maintaining the battery fields in subfreezing temperatures. Problem is - you still have to bring the grid over, to sell that exuberant power. But nevermind me.
I just watched this video and have to say what a COOL way to run string through conduit!!! I really enjoy your show and watching you fix old machines that most people would give up on. This was a Great video it was like I was right there with you!! Keep up the Great Work!!!
Thats CRAZY expensive! Congrats on the barn build. This old operator really appreciates you saving all the old machines! Thanks Matt!
Not really for a transformer, a lot of wire and 15 guys showing up, it just sounds expensive.
The one box right beside the road, for safeties sake I think you should put in a couple of hefty barrier poles on each side of the box just to mark them clearly (especially in snow) and to keep any slightly off the road vehicle from tearing through that and forcing you back onto your generators.
if matt marks them he’s liable for them. did matt set them off the right away? that’s in him too
All laid out to spec
@@DieselCreek Matt, it’s late. Go to bed.
None of his boxes were close to the road. They were in his driveway but not the road people drive on. The one at the end of his drive was at least 60 feet or more off the road.
@@jeffriley-lq5np Right of way? They are all on his property, he doesnt need to make sure any right of way distance ion kept. The power company gave him a spec sheet to follow and if he wasnt 1000% within that spec, they wouldnt pull the wire. This was inspected a few times before the guys showed up to pull the wire, even though we didnt see the inspections, it was all gone over very well.
Utilities will usually charge one a high price for electric infrastructure if one is the first and only customer utilizing the infrastructure. When more customers start utilizing the infrastructure, the initial customer usually gets a refund on the initial cost of the primary power infrastructure. The utility does this to recoup their cost of putting in the primary power infrastructure and normally is in accordance with the public utility commission having jurisdiction of the area. The utility recoups the cost of putting in the primary infrastructure from the energy used by the customers. Depending on the power consumption by the customer the utility may shoulder the entire cost or charge the customer for the initial primary power installation. The utility has to recoup their cost in accordance with guidelines of the public utility commission.
It would have been smart to include a transfer switch to facilitate use of a generator during power outage. You make a pretty good case that the job was costly.
Apparently I have been waiting three months to see how you put the draw rope into that ducting. It was worth the wait. Well done Matt. I just need to see the wood burner installed now. Keep up the good work.
The power companies are like the phone companies used to be when there was only one provider for each area. My uncle lived on the border of a phone company service area. The neighbors house, that was within 200 feet of his house was a long distance phone call away. As Lily Tomlin used to say as Earnistine the telephone operator on Laugh in. "We don't care, we don't have to, we're the phone company."
Yeah; the phone companies USED to be a bundled service, and MUCH cheaper. Now, just like utilities, it's per-piece-pricing.......how much would it cost to build your car, on nut and bolt at a time, and all components billed separately? ROFL
Nothing which two tin cans and a length of string would not sort out.
A single 1200 Amp ground transformer on a concrete pad for our business cost us $11,400. The run was 80ft from a pole. However, if you’re running 2600 ft of copper line from the source then you’re not out of range. They didn’t overcharge you.
(In Canada here) I do hydro conduit vault install, cable pull etc.. if pulling the cable from existing transformer then the power company is required to at least be there and retrieve the fish/rope/ mule tape from the live vault and feed the cable into the box/transformer.. but because the cable is on a spool and therefore not live.. you should be able to pull the cable from your end on a rubber tracked excavator (like a winch) just need a proper roller for the rope and cable to exit the bell end and out of the vault safely. You need a qualified electrician there for the whole thing and terminate it. At your transformer..(we use diesel air compressors and something we call “mouse” which is a rubber diaphragm with steel ring for attached rope or mule tape .. a special air valve/gasket system with a channel for the rope to run through controls the air.
I am sorry for all the problems you have had to endure with the power company. I wish you the very best!
I tried pricing 15Kv primary wire and it's about $15 per foot. I'm guessing the single phase transformer was $5,000, and the new pole was probably 5,000. So about $43,000 in materials and the rest was labor and profit. I'm happy you finally have power. I've been thinking you'd want 3 phase power but i can't imagine what they would have charged you to run that.
I’d put that transformer closer to the $10k range, depending on size & manufacturer. I would guess it’s an around a 25kva.
You dont own the transformer
I know a fellow who doesn't live this far out. I mean he has power already to his shop but 3 phase was still going to cost something near this to have it as his residence. He just went the rotary converters. I just remember it being stupid expensive .
I just installed 15kv primary and it’s $2.80 per ft for 2 awg full neutral stranded. Not sure where you got $15 from
Them prices are maybe from 5 years ago. Transformers can be closer to $20,000 and primary wire $10 a foot
You could have built your own power system with solar, wind, and a backup generator for a 1/4 the price and we would have LOVED to watch!
Dunno about 1/4...
Youre High...cant get shit decent for 13k. you would need solar panels, battery bank, inverters and a big generator...not happening
No, his shop would draw too much energy on too many occasions depending on the tools being used (especially a welder). Skip the solar and wind and just get a big diesel generator at an auction. Too late now though $52K plus $15K in conduit materials not to mention the labor wasted on burying the conduit. Who knows how much for permits and misc.
@@guydaley shame there's no way to store power and discharge it in large quantities later.
There absolutely is...Just need to pay@@Amber-tu2jo
I think -this- episode finally makes Matt's shop workable. Everything else is just sorta extra.... but now he finally has a real working shop. Congrats Matt!
Glad to see you've got power Matt, with the kind of activities that you are likely to have around the farm, I would suggest maybe putting up some reinforced concrete bollards around the junction boxes before you get too carried away with the landscaping. One swipe with an excavator or a trailer backing into them would tear one up pretty bad.
I love how you do all the work and still have to pay 52k to get it connected!
It's great to have a monopoly when it comes to pricing things out! It's highway robbery of the worst kind.
Electric utilities are regulated and politicians say what they do, so usually they have some basis for their prices even if hi... None of us are experts in utility economics. Power is cheap in PA so I wouldn't be totally sure they're wrong to say $50000 is fair price. They are now stuck with a cranky rural user who may be bozo and sever his line and in February start demanding emergency crew. And a mile of line seems a big risk, for 1 user who likes to dig.. Vs a city user who just needs 20 ft of power line from pole to corner of house. It's not popular but utilities are NOT rolling in money and are tightly controlled . Normally a house wanting mile of line would be a $2m mansion so yeah $50,000 would be fine for the millionaire, this may be a nice way for utility to get nice profit to subsidize the poorer city people, so maybe it's yes inflated 3x over likely cost, do we wanna insist they not gouge the mansions?? World is complex man.
@@iridium8341 Electric utilities are regulated by politicians. If angry bother politicians daily, sabotage risking fed jail for 20 years ain't worth risk for $50k. In life we are screwed many times, my god health care costs are ridiculous that's more than $50k each decade, , but we still have great life if we calmly grumble and think what would Jesus do .. in China if bother politicians you get a bullet. I say this to myself weekly, that life has frustrations and unfairness but it's overall ok, helps with my rage issues my alcoholic family badly taught me, haha..
@@mbengambenga-xi6dpI doubt this kind of thing is regulated. It’s probably just the rates that are regulated.
@mbengambenga-xi6dp what are you talking about my power line is 1800 feet long, my neighbors are five houses farthest one is 3000 feet or more back and the coop ran everything only had to set the conduit... Im about positive the 5 houses didnt spent 50k on the 2000 foot long main feeder line thats buried... We probably have 100 to 200 houses in my twp 1000 feet or more back... If you go above ground I believe the first 300 or 500 feet is free poles included then its 500 bucks every extra 100 feet.. ...
I could be wrong, none of us are utility accountants. But as a guess at $100 an hour per man, and $100 for equipment hour, and paperwork of having to check out and map rural properties, OR a fair amount, it seems utility SHOULD charge maybe $10000 or so for halfday spend on rural property. Unless rural properties get charged higher rate the utility shouldnt pass that real cost on urban people... I'm totally guessing.
I only clicked because that green box was my childhood “kind of the hill” spot in every neighborhood I went. The humming and warmth or pure radioactivity is oddly nostalgic
For those of you who dont' know, underground lines are about 10x as expensive as pole mounted lines.
no, it was only about 1/3 more
Matt the Chinese finger clamp are very handy in more cases than you can imagine, but big ones are even better for pulling hydraulic hoses around a dozer or other equipment, so hang on to them ,just pull old hose out as you pull new hose into connect it .
It always blows my mind when there’s enforcement of extortion rules like this situation. Power companies, gas companies and health departments that have complete control of their perspective trades. They have rules to follow but they are essentially a monopoly with law enforcement behind their monopolies
Only in 1 Country tho so there is a Solution, Change Country.
U forgot insurance
Don’t forget health insurance .the biggest scam and monopoly.
Yes, they are a monopoly. That is why they are regulated by the public utilities commission. The question is who is keeping the PUC honest?
Several thousand feet of copper ain't cheap. Especially at primary gauges
when you had the generator hooked up to the entrance feed my first though was might be a worthwhile idea to add a manual transfer switch to the building with a plug so if power goes out you can just hook generator up with little work and be back online in a jiffy.
Little tip for anyone doing this alone: do not use a standard household vacuum, make sure you use a wet/dry vac as shown in this video. Why? In a household dry-only vacuum, the air vacuumed in is the same air used to cool the motor. So if the bag makes its way into the vacuum and blocks the airflow (as we clearly heard happen here, as the motor sound changes), it would block the cooling and the motor could overheat before you make it back to turn it off.
Wet/dry vacs, on the other hand, have a totally separate airflow path for motor cooling, since the vacuum airflow can be mixed with water and inconsistent. So a wet/dry vac can operate with its vacuum inlet blocked indefinitely, since the motor will continue to be cooled.
Well if one has two people that is not an issue.
It was nice of your neighbor to work with you so well.
He ought to, he’s my uncle
Family is no assurance of cooperation
Uncle DC 0.O
Lol
Too bad the power company isn’t as nice as your neighbor, they never are. Hope all that waiting turns out to be worth the electric bills when they send them to you. Can’t wait to see you working in your nice warm shop this winter, will beat working out in the frigid cold w/ little daylight. Good luck, have fun and keep those videos coming. Also I miss your original intro music, I always looked forward to it and knew I was on the right channel.
As a Lineman, I know what it takes to install a transformer. First off, the underground primary cable that feeds the transformer is $10 per foot. At 2,200 feet, that's $22,000 in just cable. The price of the padmount transformer they set is $12,000 plus all of the associated electrical components to make it work is at least another $5,000. Then there's the other end of the project. My guess is the Utility company set a new pole to energize your transformer from. That's probably another $5,000. I think you got a deal at only $52,000.
Yah, he has no clue OR since he gets paid by clicks...... retired Designer here
He stated in the video that the $52000 did not include the cable, so yeah maybe not such a good deal
I totally agree with you. It was his decision to build that building so far away from the rest of the world. Why should the power company bear the expense of that decision and pass the costs onto the customers? Everything done here was pretty much standard with any service installation.
@@Georgiagreen317 Because that is the deal when the government gives you a monopoly.
@@Wildlandfirefighting he stated that it didn't cover the cost of the secondary, so that is the 170ish feet from the transformer to the meter. Not the 2200 feet from the pole to the transformer. Underground utilities tend to end their line and the first place of takeoff whether that be a transformer, uk6 or vault making it the customers responsibility from the point of connection. The reason is Harry homeowner typically plants trees, bushes, fences etc. without calling 811 first. Then he digs and either hits his line entirely or nicks insulation causing the wire to go bad in several months, so why should the utility be responsible for the homeowners incompetence.
I did a quick calculation.
I work for an electrical company in Germany and can tell you that 52000 isn't really much for 2200ft (700m)!
Without knowing any further details (cross-section of the cables, transformer power), I can say that 700m of copper cable in a 10kv version 3x35qmm, i.e. 2200ft AWG 2, costs around €45 per meter for us.
So $49 is $15 per foot. That's $33,000 just for the cable without laying!
The transformer costs probably $7500 and the 3 bases cost $250 each.
We're at a total of $41,250 without anyone collecting, clamping, checking or certifying anything.
I think it's completely fair!
That meter means money, lots of it and it all belongs to the power company. Power companies must be all the same around the world as in Australia they charge an arm and a leg plus one kidney to connect the power to your premises in rural areas. I knew one guy who was quoted $52000 to connect the power to his rural property and there was only pole involved. No underground. He went full solar with batteries and a back up generator and with the government subsidy the system cost him nothing.
Great episode again. Once the wallet recovers a bit, you could avoid a lot of last minute scramble having your electrician buddy help you put in a transfer switch and hookup box on the side of the barn to hook in the generator when the utility fails you. Probably not a big deal now but a huge convenience once it’s also backing up the house.
Yes, you will be so happy every time the power goes down. Every time you throw that switch and the lights come back on you will thank yourself.
As a professional Electrician I can confirm that this is the best way to get a line in the conduit. Lol. Nice job!
Well, I paid $1,800 to replace my 20-gal steel well water pressure tank & switch. In its place is a 30-gal composite tank. Mind you, I dug up the old tank with a standard spade shovel & I had to bury the new tank.
A regular plumber quoted me $3,500 to do it. Service call just to come to my home is $300 & if he had to use his own mini excavator, that is an additional $200/hour. And the tank replacement is still $1,800.
When it is a necessity - it will cost you and arm and a leg, then some more.
Which is more of an eye-sore? Small green boxes or wood poles sticking in the aire?
I had the Elec service buried to my house. $6 grand. You hit the nail on the head. A licensed Elec had to do the job per elec co. I was not allowed to.
15:00 I will never not be impressed at the ability to use excavators and such as precision equipment! Keep up the awesome work Matt!
Another step in the right direction. The price to do the power is never cheap. In New Hampshire here at my son's house I did a power service upgrade from 150.amp service to a 200 amp service this spring. I dug the 225' trench and laid all the 3 inch pvc and 1 inch pvc with my son. Public Service had us pull the strings as well and install slip joints at the meter box. There was no cost for the wire underground because when, they are upgrading the power it's free, so that was a huge savings. Your progress on your shop and land is amazing, keep up the good work. Happy Holidays.
For what it's worth, the power company won't let anyone else do that work because that's part of their network. Not only does it mean it's their ongoing responsibility, but any faults or issues in the line potentially affect other equipment and customers.
but it has to be a legislated rate per feet and not some arbitrary number
What a lot of people don't understand with that initial cost is.... once the power company energizes the cable (in our area) is they take ownership of all of the infrastructure. Pipes, boxes, transformer box, transformer, and cable, and connections... FOREVER.. trans former goes bad, you get a new one, wire burns up, you get new wire, box collapses they dig and set new one... but what you get within your property is safe reliable power from wildlife and trees.. because it buried.
How many feet of pipe? I think the cable is about 8.00 a foot..
You pay the full cost [plus some extra] to build it and then the power company gets to own it and charge you [or whoever you sell to] monthly forever. You move, everything remains in the ground and the power company still gets their monthly payments. Having a customer is mutually beneficial. Lets not act like the power company is doing him some kind of favor by charging $52k to hook him up.
Please remember that the power company personnel we come in contact with with are not the extortionists, the are just folks making a living
@@iridium8341would you rather live in a world with no electricity
So working for a power company that overcharges it's customers is like being a Nazi soldier ? You need a serious slap for using the Nazi's when talking about a trade issue. Get some education, you moron.@@iridium8341
@@iridium8341 Except the power companies are trying to NOT kill people.
But they still leave their crap behind for you to clean up. If they were _just folks making a living_ they would have picked up their mess and taken it away.
@@BlackEpyon Are you really sure about that? How many times has sloppy line maintenance resulted in fires that have destroyed property and people have died as a result. Where I live it was *187 people* who died as a result of money being saved by *not* doing the appropriate maintenance that the government had provided funding for them to do. Guess the CEO bonus was really needed that year.
Matt that’s awesome, well done. Please don’t ever stop being a one man band. That’s what makes this channel so authentic.
Please consider chucking some bollards infront of the transformer so you done back over it with a machine
not allowed to obstruct access
4 corner reinforced formed cement posts 6" across & 24" down ought to do the trick without obstrtucting access. :)@@DieselCreek
@@LukesJukes I know it wouldn’t be an obstruction but I asked and they said don’t put anything like that in place.
@@DieselCreek Dang, that sucks! I guess if some trees just so happened to grow close around it, they’d come cut them down? 😅
Obstruction of pad mount access is not allowed
My uncle was a 35 year electrician. He taught me a trick when we pulled my wire from my house to my shop. He said if it’s it all uphill, you pull it from the downhill side even 2 feet of climb will make the wire tougher to pull we had about 16 feet of drop that wire basically slid right through the conduit, because it was all downhill
This is very true, sometimes when pulling wire vertically in conduit up multiple floors we have to pull the wire up instead of down. The wire is so heavy that if you pulled down, it would start to fall into the conduit uncontrollably, causing a dangerous and costly situation. We then install specifically sized blocking in the end of the pipe at the top floor to prevent the wire from falling down after the tugger and rope are disconnected.
what you could do is have the power company meter close to the boundary of your land, then everything after that you could run your own cable. BUT if they are running HV to you, your cable after the transformer/meter (LV) would have to be a lot larger. might not save anything!?
When you got the bill for the power did it come in the form of little bits of letters cut out from various magazines ?
I can't imagine how much they would have charged if they'd done EVERYTHING themselves.
😂😂
25:08 52k.
@@bobbg9041 That's 52 grand just for the transformer, wire, pulling the wire, plugging in meter and hooking things up. It does not include the conduit, burying it, pull tape, pulling pull tape OR the run from transformer to building.
@@bobbg9041 I know it cost Matt 52K but he did most of the work himself. What I wonder is how much it would have cost if the power company had done everything. Dug holes, dug trenches, dug up and repaired the road, laid pipes, filled trenches, placed transformer boxes, run the strings then the pull lines, then the wiring and lastly the connections. It would have cost at least 150K.
@@ellesmerewildwood4858 it would be a fortune and with wire prices now especially high voltage this price with transformer and all those guys actually is accurate people just don't understand what all it takes but leaving all that stuff is ridiculous.
Hi Matt! Been watching your videos for years now, always fun watching you tear into all these heavy projects on your own! Can’t describe the sense of inspiration you give to work through a tough obstacle!
Just wanted to maybe give you a few tips on installing basements and terminating in meter bases in the future. I am an electric lineman in Michigan so we do this work all the time. When burying your basements we typically don’t burry them flush against the ground because they will tend to settle into the ground over time. I’ll leave roughy 8-10 inches or so exposed out of the ground to set the transformers and switch cabinets (which is what is by your gate) on for settling and also it gives you more room for the primary and secondary wires to bend around and more room for us to work with them easily to terminate as well as have extra wire for when the frost starts to pull on the wire it won’t pull the bushings out of the transformer. This also applies to your meter base. I always make a decent bend on our wires so there’s a few inches of wire to play with for frost. Doesn’t have to be much but a little snake bend can make all the difference as opposed to just running straight up like that. Been to many homes over the years where it’s pulled the meter base right off the home or barn and everything has to be redone. Just some little tips and tricks for you for next time if you ever have to do it again in the future!
Costs I’m seeing for 15kv underground is around 25/foot, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were only charged for this cable and everything else was socialized. There’s a world of difference between your 120 volt wire and a primary underground conductor.
Glad to see you finally got your Electric Meter and Electricity in the Shop Matt 32:00 @Diesel Creek
I appreciate the honesty and full disclosure of the cost of the project. Some people want to do something like this is nice to know what it cost. At least they can base their estimate on his and see if they're getting a better deal or not.
Another huge accomplishment. It seems like yesterday you were prepping for the first shipping container. It's a lot of money but what else can you do? It's not going to get any cheaper. Congratulations! I'm looking forward to seeing a wood boiler install in the future.
It ain't just power that they rake you over the coals for. I almost bought a property that had zero internet service. No cable, no fiber, nothing. I could get DSL, but it was SLOW SLOW. The local ISP had service 1/4 mile up the road. They wanted $80,000 to run service to that property. This wasn't buried cable, but above ground on the poles. $80k. This was to a neighborhood, mind you. So they could have capitalized on that. No thanks.
As a former landscaper, I like wild grasses to hide transformers and other telecom boxes. I really like the Karl Foerster feather reed grass. It gets big and fluffy to hide boxes, no thorns or anything if you need to get inside, you just hack them off around four inches in late winter/early spring with a pair of hedge shears, and they come back every year. Two on each side of those boxes will be plenty after they get established for a couple years and really fluff up. I would recommend getting a size 3 or 5(that's just how many gallons the pot is) from your local nursery. These are healthy, larger plants that are much more durable for transplant. The only kicker is that they need water almost every day for the first few weeks when you plant them. If it's raining a bunch, no problem. But if it's hot and dry, you need to go out and soak them every day(ideally in the morning, near sunrise).
The amount they charged to do that small bit of work is disgusting. Cracking job as always Matt, they should've done all of your excellent prep work and brought you coffee for that price.
Curious if this is less of an "actual cost" thing and more of the hookup cost subsidizing some other aspect of the entire electrical distribution or production system. If they're like other utilities, the use fees aren't really the revenue stream. New hookups almost always cost a lot more than just the actual work involved.
i feel like it would have been cheaper to go solar + diesel generator setup, that was pure extortion
im up to over $25 k in materials the poco supplied. before shipping
the transformer was $7-10 k and that cable is 7bucks a foot( cheapest some brands are $12 each. you have no idea what this actually costs to install-do you?
@@jeffriley-lq5np he literally had to pay 52k for them to come and run some wires. what are you on about?
I believe the high cost is for the power company taking ownership of that stretch of underground line to the meter. They're responsible for it from now on. From the main line to the meter.
In commercial electrical, it seems there is always water in at least 10% of the underground feeder conduit. Obviously some people don't try hard enough to properly glue fittings but they are never concerned (it is too late) and they don't talk about doing it better next time. It seems to work time and again without issue.
Very different from what I remember working for my father. We would either put the wire in the conduit, then buried it, or put the draw wire in instead depending on circumstances. Mind you he did electrical contracting after working full time for the power company for our local area, so they knew that he was qualified to do the work properly and safely, and he had more licences and permits than he really needed. I did a lot digging and putting will he did the skilled work and supervised me. This gave me all the encouragement I needed to study. Trade work is physically difficult and mentally demanding to do properly and often uncomfortable and dirty, but or all that it tends to pay well. The new tools they now have make things a lot better.
That is 100% extortion, just because they can
That's why utilities are the largest political donors.........the payback on their "investment" is guaranteed by the politicians they own. That "investment" also prevented them (your local company's parent corporation) from being held accountable in the whitewashed Congressional Investigation of their incompetence that caused the 2003 blackout affecting 7 states, and 1/2 of Canada, and incurring billions of dollars of losses to businesses, as a result. Is this a great country, or what?
Yes absolutely just like insurance companies.
@@wmweekendwarrior1166 Just like medical providers (services and insurance)
They have to bill for the transformer, wire, the time of two+ trucks and the three hours for a half dozen guys, the engineering overhead, and the meter. They're making a profit but not a huge profit.
@@RSterkenburg I was surprised by the amount of equipment they rolled, not to mention the personal.
For 52k you probably may set your own solar farm plus generator as a backup...
He'd have to take out a huge swath of trees and he'd probably need double and maybe triple that amount for his power requirements (I am assuming he had 400 amp service installed, maybe three phase). You don't run a trolley crane, milling machines, plasma cutters etc on whatever Chinesium crap David Poz or other similar youtube creatures are slinging. It can be done, but not Growatts and EG4s.
You’re correct but he wants to build a house there as well in the future, and he lives in PA so in the winter they get snow, so this is better long term. If it was just the shop you would probably be right.
As someone who has been using solar for 27 years. $52,000 wouldn't even begin to provide the power the grid does. It also isn't as cost effective as grid power, solar isn't even as cost effective as running a generator; but it is definitely quieter, cleaner and easier to use.
Thank you! Hundreds and hundreds of comments from people telling me I should have gone solar but no one understands the demands that I’m going to have in the shop not to mention the lack of sunlight that we get or the maintenance required with the solar panels.
One time they broke into my backyard to install a digital meter. Usually I pay around 200 bucks but after the meter I got a bill for 1,800 for that month.
We called but they didn't give a crap.
We ran into this for a friend of mine. His power “run” from the utility access point was 3/4 mile. Originally They were going to install 10 power poles with one transformer and the overhead single wire. Total cost estimate was $62,000 for the power company to do it but they wanted a 65 foot easement cut along the power line from the trees that were there. My friend bought that property for the nice forest that was there and to cut down 30% of those trees to run the power was a bit of a non starter. We obtained a spool of underground cable for $16,000 that was over rated for his load and had the power company put his meter and transformer on the existing power pole by the road. We then trenched in the cable with a ditch witch to the proper depth beside his access road and installed two step up and step down transformers for $3000 each. The step up transformers boosted the 240 volts from the meter to 600 volts and when it got to his service point on his building we stepped it back down from 600 to 240 volts to tie into his breaker panel. By doing that it reduced the voltage drop on large loads and reduced the wire size by at least two sizes. The power company still charged $12,000 for the transformer and the meter install but the total was $36,000 with the ditch witch rental for going underground. I am not sure if the electrical codes in your area allow for underground cable instead of conduit but the cost of your conduit and the difference in the wire types is another cost to look at.
Shit, for $52k I could have set you up with an off grid solar setup that would power that shop 24/7. I think my last large one was ~$35k including a shipping container and 100kw backup genset (2 stroke detroit!). Produced ~40kwh/day in the summer and 20kwh/day in the winter. Plus had 40kwh of battery storage. It provided 240V split phase and easily started larger loads like big motors and even ran a 240V welder just fine. Hell, I usually did my laundry at night, off a 240V well pump, full size washer and full size electric dryer - without the genset.
Does seem crazy not to do solar+battery given the prices… it was over $65k which buys a lot of solar and battery.
add 50% to that price and you can have Tesla branded solar, installed, and 25 yr warranty. But still less than this! (AND NO BILLS)
While working for a VA power company - some homeowners go cheap on installations then 3 to 40 years later finding out the landowner has to reinstall the powerlines - plus adding electricity improves the land value more than the $52K -
I adore watching a person that KNOWS how to dance with an excavator or backhoe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OOOH it is lovely to see!
Matt, Rob again here. The company I worked for developed subdivisions and underground utilities. This company was so in tune, they could lay a mile of 4 ft storm drain, water, sewer & electric conduit bundled in the ground. No automation, teamwork. It was like watching a choreographed symphony every day.
Mule tape might be the best thing ever made very little stretch super strong and easy to use.
As a heavy equipment mechanic, I absolutely hate mule tape, and when it gets into brushes of a sweeper, gets into bearings etc
Interesting that in the US you have to pay for it. Where I live (Italy) the electrical wiring and components, such as transformers, switches, fuses, etc till the energy meter is owned by the power distribution company (that is not the company that sells you the energy, by the way), they are responsible of installing and maintaining it and you are not allowed to touch it (everything has anti tampering seals), the only expense is the base fee in the electricity bill (basically this accounts for electricity distribution network).
Well they do charge for that. The difference is that Europe is 400 V and the US 240 V. In Finland that distance would not have required a separate transformer. They could have pulled 400 V cables. I check dome prices and it would have been about 6000-10000 € depending on the fuse size on the company I checked - Still a fraction of what it was.
@@okaro6595 400V if you have 3 phase, most home installations are single phase, thus no benefit in using 400V VS 230V that is the same of the US.
In Italy you don't pay the installation itself (you pay for stuff like moving the meter, if you decide to do it, but not for the first install). Of course you then pay a fee in the bill for the infrastructure, that has to cover the initial install cost, but it's a fixed rate for anyone, not depending if you already have cables or they have to be installed.
Finally, now the electricity company will bring you power at the premises of your property, that is they put the meter on the fence such that it's accessible from the street, it's no longer allowed to have inside. Thus the run of cable between your house and the meter you have to provide yourself (and the power losses of that cable run you pay in the bill, of course!).
You can thank Unions for the cost of the job! The power company has to charge $52,000 when they are paying 3 guys to stand and watch while 1 works all the while the combined salary of these guys is $500k+.