Running Nearly 1/2 mile of Underground Electric, Costs over $64,000??!?!

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[@808TheDuck]

Matt, between you and the power company, something was lost in translation. Hire an electrical contractor to pull the wire and set the transformer. Power company only has to connect you at the pole. There should be NO charge for that as hooking up to power is part of theirs tariff. And BTW... THAT was one hell of a job. You rock, brother!!

[@richardg7445]

Matt, speaking as an retired electrician I think you should look into this approach.

[@zapman2100]

you should really look into each and every states laws some places you have to pay for every pole to your place you need.

[@truenorth365]

Yep that sounds about right. At least in my country thats how it works. You pay the power company to connect it at the powersource, not on your property. The work on your property you can do yourself or hire certified help for. Love your channel and awesome job laying the conduit. Thumbs up from Sweden

[@philipsabatino180]

Good advice

[@2dronetek2]

52,000 would seem more reasonable if they were doing ALL the work that you already did PLUS installing the wire. I'm glad you're fighting the cost.

[@sarongas1999]

On the next episode, Matt builds a small nuclear reactor instead of dealing with the local power company haha.

[@ArvoR]

or buys used one and some oil change, fast paintjob .. :)

[@faelsinnes]

Don't give him Ideas !!!!

[@jspafford]

Not as hard as you think. Just buy a few thousand old smoke detectors. A Boy Scout did it in the 70s?

[@connordennison4330]

The nuclear reactor that he found in the inoperable section at the Ritchie brothers auction.

[@jblob5764]

"you wont believe the deal i scored at the govplanet auction!"

[@southstreetbarbecue7875]

I'm unreasonably excited for electrical to be run for a place I'll never go and for a person I'll likely never meet. Congratulations Matt, this should be a game changer for you!

[@dandesjardins937]

Great post

[@VowellVentures]

I'm in a similar boat with 1/2 mile between my shop project and utilities. Huge install costs, plus monthly bill is why I opted to go massive with off-grid solar and a back up generator. Will cost about the same to install, maybe a hair less but never have an electric bill that only goes up. I commend you for the undertaking! Especially since you had to get to a pole on the neighbors property, not on or at a right away. Definitely a crazy huge project!

[@wasjosh]

Yeah even going with just a large battery bank charged by his generator would be a faction of the install and ongoing costs.

[@Avlec1000]

Having grid power is nice but unless the power company can do it for a reasonable price then off grid Solar + battery + generator might be a better option.

[@SetitesTechAdventures]

This is the right move for more people every day. Especially considering that power bill is going to keep going up.

[@VowellVentures]

@@SetitesTechAdventures country needs a big push towards a "personal independence" again. confidence and comfort come in not worrying about where food, power, heat and shelter come from. Not there yet on my own project and life, but getting closer every trip to my project.

[@SolarTechFL]

I've been offgrid since 2016 totally worth it

[@patrickflanagan8008]

What I picked up towards the end of the video , was just how tired and frustrated you were at the end of this phase. You have my utmost respect Sir, and good luck in your dealings with the Electric Company shysters.

[@TheRestorationShack]

I'm sat here procrastinating about doing some small tasks on one of the car in the garage and you've done more work than a team would do in two weeks. Great motivation for the rest of us to get up and get busy Matt! Awesome work

[@farmerhunterjr]

Little helpful tip with running pull cord through all that conduit. (I do it all the time where I work.) Cut the top off a coke bottle or a find a cup that fits loosely in the conduit(we usually use a 30oz Gatorade bottle but thats for 4"). Place string through cap of bottle and place in conduit with lid pointed into conduit so open cut off end of bottle will trap air making a seal. Then use a cordless leaf blower to blow string and bottle through conduit. Works way better than a shop vac. Also you might need to use a lighter pull cord for those longer runs. Big box store sell klien brand pull string but honestly we have started using poly baler twine. Its the same stuff. And then use that to pull the mule tape. Also my boss was able to work a deal when he built a house along way off the road and he bought the wire and pulled it all and saved a lot of money from what they originally quoted but he has contacts since we work with the field guys and he knew the right ppl to talk to but might be worth a offer. Good luck! Hope that helps.

[@polaxis842]

Damn, that's sounds very smart and effective (no sarcasm). Kudos!

[@chrisstegerman8058]

I work for a company that builds electrical connections in Windmills. When we need to pull Kable thru a pipe we use a big compressor to blow a smal Steel winchcable thru the pipe. We putt lubricant in the pipe and have a foam ball with a ring on it that fits snug in the pipe. The wirecable goes on the ball and at the end of tehe pipe we put a big rubber seal with a smal opening fore the wire and a conection for the compressorhose. Putt airpressure to it and away she goes😂 Works a charm😊

[@TomMoertel]

Matt, if you ever want fast internet service at the dream shop, you might want to look into pulling some fiber at same time as the electrical. This add-on might be surprisingly affordable if you're going to have to hire an external contractor anyway to avoid the power company's exorbitant pricing.

[@markmckinley5989]

Keep in mind that power company is a bit protective of their cable. Nothing else allowed in conduit, and trench sharing has spacing limitations, so cannot just add it to pull.

[@ErikEkedahl]

Not sure what the regs are in his area, but in my area "High power" and "Low Power" need to be separated by no less than 8", and can't go through the same conduit. Even though fiber is non-conductive it would still qualify.

[@DavidWorsham-v5o]

With the cost of material and labor you might have come out better with solar panels and back up batteries. I don’t know. Looks like you did a great job!

[@oldschool1993]

Naah- where he is at you have a lot of cloudy day, rain and snow plus forest cover- he would have to clear 50 acres to put in that many solar panels. Who knows how many backup batteries it would take to run that shop plus a house in the future. Even in the southwest where they have year round sunshine and vast expanses of flat desert ground, all the solar farms have been failures.

[@timkuehn8888]

@AmbitionStrikes has a sweet solar setup and their all-in cost was in ~$60K range.

[@jfbeam]

64k will buy a lot of diesel. Solar could be an option, but I doubt there's enough clear days up north. ('tho there are people who do off-grid solar further north than PA)

[@oldschool1993]

@@timkuehn8888 I've seen some of their videos- first off there is no such thing a "Off grid' Anyone who is truly off grid could not post videos on you tube or even make a phone call and would be wandering through the woods naked. Their little solar system will barely maintain that cabin and the true test of any system is over an extended period of time, surviving heavy rain and snow, landslides, wind storms, falling trees etc.. Their channel is designed to attract the dreamers who think all big corporations are evil and they can somehow live for free.

[@andrewr2650]

@@timkuehn8888, yes they do in the summer running all their stuff the batteries are full by 10 AM, but…. they still have to run a diesel generator 2 ish months out of the year because they don’t get enough light. Riley said in one of the videos that based on the charging numbers he has seen they could have 4x the panels and it still wouldn’t be “enough” which is why they use the generator.

[@SueLewis-d3r]

Matt, my husband and I both enjoy watching your videos. It is too late now, but he was a grounds manager at a resort for 38 years and laid lots of irriigation pipe. Duct tape over the ends when laying it will prevent dirt from entering the pipes. I am always amazed at how much you know about so many things.

[@kaseymccleary946]

I'm a lineman for a local utility (I also live in PA). That number is nuts but I'm not surprised. That job is a max 3 day job for a 4 man crew. Probably $250 hr (I get 1/5 of that) which includes the truck usage you're looking at 20-30k in just labor. Realistically a good 3 man crew could do it in 2 8 hr days.

[@StratManDan52]

We can sense the frustration as you contemplate dealing with the utility provider. Hang in there, maintain your cool and fight hard. Ask for an itemized quotation. Love watching your channel Matt.

[@davidpayne2880]

Matt, you have every right to get the actual cost of this project. I know that the power company likes to bleed us every chance they get. Keep fighting for a proper accounting from them. Each "Public utility" seem to have territorial rights and do not want you to shop a better price from the power company on the other side of the road. When my Dad bought his farm there were no power lines within 3/4 of a mile. He had several to chose from, REA coop, Northern States Power. NSP was 1 1 mile away and the coop was 1/2 mile to the north. They Had to

[@dennishayes65]

@2880: Your dad must be from Minnesota!

[@marcfournier823]

My powerline has 14 poles over 2400 feet. In 1983 it cost $10k to install. Hydro owns only the first and list poles. The other 12 poles I own. Since then I've paid to replace all but the first and last poles which HydroOne owns. The poles all had to be replaced by a licenced installer at about $1500 per pole. Of course this was at Hydro's direction. Failing to comply would result in a safety lock out. I've also h had to maintain a clear right of way under the line. I wish I had buried the line when I first brought in power. Great videos.

[@rogerkincaid4535]

Matt - As a suggestion, I would get or draw a property map and draw in ALL the underground wiring, water lines, drain lines and other underground lines you may have so in a year or two you'll know where they are. Also, this would help if another hired contractor comes in you can show what is under ground. Again, just a suggestion. Great video and I agree with you that someone's pockets are being lined with that amount of money.

[@SteifWood]

That is pretty much the code here in Norway ...

[@donaldstevenson2475]

Matt just a suggestion while placing elbow at meter add additional one so concrete can stay without moving or cutting in future .

[@hughesc23]

Excellent video!! Really an insane amount of work for one guy. Having the right equipment helps for sure but damn! The fly through at the end really shows that which was a great touch. 52 grand is ridiculous. Fight it. This is probably my favorite channel on KZbin and a like is always well deserved. Great job Matt!!

[@johnscott1621]

You are the best, most persistent, determined guy I have ever had the pleasure to watch. Congratulations.

[@johnking8679]

NO KIDDING !!

[@Gogsnik]

Matt certainly does live in a beautiful part of the world. The drone footage at the end is incredible, made me think that not so long ago, shots like that would've been the sole province of big budget studios, pretty incredible what people can do these days. Also loved seeing those turkeys running around too, closest you'll get to that here in the U.K. are pheasants running around!

[@markscully2342]

You need to be careful of Pheasants jumping out of hedges in front of you at certain times of year can make a mess of your car, even worse if you're on a motorbike!

[@charlesbraun8867]

Just ran electric to new house build . Short run maybe 50 feet ,but they did everything. Would have to check my receipts but pretty sure it cost $2500. That was in south central ky, things are cheaper in that part of the country. Answering your question that number seems way high.

[@Meister1551]

After watching both videos to this massive project, I've got to take my hat off to you. You accomplished so much to bring power to your property. You should be proud of all that work. As for the utility company, I believe you are spot on with your analyses of the cost. You did all of the hard part; laying the conduit. They are totally out of line for what will be needed to service your property. Does your state have a public Utilities commission you can complain to???

[@Vince-m2m]

That is an insane amount of work for a one man band , well done Matt well done

[@marcbeebe]

$52,000 should have paid for THEM doing the whole job; parts and labour.

[@randyturnquist1254]

Marc you must know what the Urd and splices and transformer cost eh?

[@getbent876]

​@@randyturnquist1254any transformer is pretty much unobtainable right now

[@markclifton14]

Hats off to you Matt well done for a large personal project. I’m from the Uk. We have the same problem. So if your project involves electricity, water or gas they always come out with some eye watering bill just plucked out of the sky. It’s a good job you have some experience with what something like this cost. And can challenge their quote. 👍

[@ronsmith7522]

I was going to tell you my story of 2 years to do 1600 foot down a 45% slope, I would just get flamed. The linemen had to put a brake on the reel, and it took 30 minutes to drop the wire in place 4 more hours to set the transformer and the riser at the bottom pole. The wife asked me nicely for power, and now we have it. So hard to adjust to that after 20 years off grid.

[@calholli]

With that insulated building.. I think you'll be shocked to see just how little heat it takes for it to stay comfortable in the shop in the winter. Even if you still keep your coat on while you work--- just a little wood burning stove would heat that whole shop fairly quickly. I understand that you have the heated floor and all that-- but I think you'll find that you won't really need to run it all that much. That insulation makes it super efficient beyond belief.

[@baronclime6423]

If you can, perhaps add some "finished space" to the shop or a small building you can have in pretty quick. Another option would perhaps be to say your shop is used for agriculture. The language you use with the company can affect pricing. I am here in southern KY, and was at one point a groundman for one of our local contractors to our electric company.

[@barbaracopeland2899]

Great work Matt. So sorry you’re having to deal with outrageous utility companies. It’s so uncalled for. Wishing you the best. Love watching your videos

[@robjennings39]

Kudos!!! Having done a little ditch digging, I realize how hard and how much work goes into this process. Hours & hours of non-videoed physical labor unseen and therefor not appreciated in the process. In addition to the work that goes into shovel work and hassle of working around prior lays of pipe, line, etc etc. Not forgetting the huge amount of works in the video and editing!!

[@theodoredugranrut8201]

I cannot add to what these people have already said in the comments except thanks Matt for all you do to bring us such great videos. Central California watching.

[@Liam-vz1vl]

Nice one Matt! Despite the bad news about the power companies greed and all that back breaking work, speaks volumes that you still end the video with a smile! Fair play!!

[@timbollinger3209]

OUCH$!! That’s 22,000 more than my guess. Really hope THEY come to their senses. You did do an awesome job on all that conduit. Great video Bud.

[@northernexposure9066]

in 2015 I built a new shop, had a power run of only 80' and one pole set, plus transformer box. Our total out the door was $29K.

[@williamconway1287]

Having the electrical run obviously is going to be a huge improvement . And I haven’t seen all of the video yet , but dang $64,000 ? I bet it would have been atleast double if you weren’t able to do most of the work yourself ! Keep smiling , hopefully , and take the hit !

[@crankypreezer]

If we had more guys like you at the County, maybe I wouldn't have had to do so much raking. LOL

[@margaretwilkinson9140]

Matt the music your friends provide brings much class to the channel. you are lucky to have such a talented group working for you!

[@DieselCreek]

Thanks for that! And thank the Semi-Supervillains for supplying all the music!

[@greggsaunders3246]

PPL's (Central PA) extension fee is about $3.75/foot and $1900 for the transformer. The first 500' is free included.

[@sdwputnam]

Hi, this may be a crazy question but why don't you check around with contactors to get other prices to pull your power wires. Or even better, pull your own wire through the conduit at each pad and transformer. It must be different rules in Pa. Oh, great job.

[@starfox1340]

We use A-2 base material which is crushed limestone in Texas. That looks like millings a you are using.

[@darknightin1105]

mat needs to give his editing self a raise loved the opening montage ^^

[@stevebrooks7197]

As every mechanic/engineer knows having the right equipment for the job is critical to completing the job. Matt, you have the right equipment!

[@xboxmw2awsome]

My guess was $50 grand, I work for telecom and these construction estimates are pretty normal though totally insane. What’s crazy is you’ve done the bulk of the work

[@alexhayden2303]

What would they have charged for the whole job?

[@ritchardposterior262]

@@alexhayden2303 i am guessing 52 grand would of been the whole job.

[@jrock865]

@@ritchardposterior262 wrong.

[@klddts]

Im getting ready to run power. The distance is 1/2 mile and my quote is $62k and $3k for NYSEG to connect.

[@neilwalowen5182]

If your local power company is the company I think it is(the one I work for) services run to a garage alone are considered commercial which gets charged a commercial rate, Labour on that job would be through the roof as it would take a couple days to finish it more then likely Which explains the price. I personally have never even pulled primary that far, 1k to 1200 ft is the furthest we pull 9 times outta 10. And as for taking most of the year to arrange all this, sounds about right honestly.

[@davidnull5590]

Interesting. With that electric company, Could Matt buy electricity from them at whatever the primary voltage is at his neighbor's pole? Next to the road or wherever the "free" wire (if any) stops on Matt's property? 12kV? Then meter with a CT? Matt could run the remainder with Matt buying and pulling the wire, Matt buys his own pad-mounted transformer. Matt would need someone experienced for any splices and to wire-up the transformer. Would that work?

[@vinceb90]

That cost is crazy. I’m currently having underground power put in at my place. Power company charges 3$/ foot. That’s them doing EVERYTHING. they dig, put in conduit, pull wire etc. No work on my part except the first 10 feet off my house

[@MrOpaulo]

Would have been nice to see you use an expansion joint going up to the meterbase

[@ringer2879]

It’s code to use one at the meter

[@Truklodyte]

Yes I think your right about power company sticking it to you. So my suggestion is buy the power cable an run it yourself. Cut down on their added labor cost and materials padding cost. Only let them make connections and setting transformer. Down here in Florida the underground crew is yr advance listing for doing it. Putting up poles are cheaper done in a day. My neighbor has been waiting so long that he had to put up solar panels. His new house will arrive before power company will get off their collected asses. They have been like that for two yrs now

[@michaelhendershot6311]

If you want to keep dirt out of the end of the pipe connect to leaf blower to one end and when you add sections you just blow it out it clears the pipe entirely love the show I watch every episode😊

[@patrickmccarthy6532]

I can see you are tired you gave that 110% effort. Great job and great vid.

[@GeneralSulla]

Whatever project I plan, I add 25%-50% more work and expense to it. That way I can be pleasantly surprised if it was less work and expense. Sometimes I find problems that cost more than the job I started! Example: Capping a broken main T to an anti-freeze faucet head turned into a conduit laying job across the yard 50 ft. The previous owner buried a 220V line unsheathed right next to the water main to the 2nd house. My daughter who was in the muddy hole grabbed it and said " What's this"! "Drop it NOW honey! Get outa that hole NOW"! Phew! Rural living...,

[@xbd.760]

I know this is a bit old, but it broke my heart when you started talking about your costs. Around here, VA, the power company (poco) is required to provide you overhead service. They'll do the underground if it's cheaper or comparable. Our distance from pole to transformer is a bit longer than yours, almost exactly 2600'. It cost us nothing & they plowed it in instead of trenching & running conduit. Took about 1/2 a day. Best of luck with your building projects & please put a link in above if you get some kind of settlement from your poco.

[@DieselCreek]

That would have been nice!

[@johnlydon533]

Matt , hats off to you !! I hope the power company gives you a break or a reasonable quote ! 👍🏼👍🏼

[@joelmiller2504]

Your energy level is amazing

[@daviousmaximus6446]

I needed an aspirin and a lie down after only watching this. You're a machine Matt! Good work mate.

[@maldunlop2792]

The trencher has a blade to backfill the trench much faster , for the future jobs

[@Lycras]

26:52 Old Caterpillar got promoted to a mamal. 😂

[@CG-jr1ym]

They are probably charging by the foot to run the ele. lines , even though you put the conduit in. They probably are charging as if they are puttingin the conduit too. You buy and install the ele. wires and they can (probably) only charge you for the hookup.

[@engir63]

Did you remember to put the pipes in at a slight decline so gravity will help the electricity flow?☺

[@paulmollise1856]

Matt, I moved a 450’ overhead power line on my property which fed my neighbor and myself, it became 540’ with the relocation underground, this was on in 2006, West Penn power had to engineer the change, 5k just for that. I also moved the cable and phone too, so had to deal with comcast and Verizon too, put that in a 2” conduit, when it was all done I figured I had roughly 10k in just materials plus the engineering of the new right away, , plus my labor costs and machine rental which I did all myself it’s a daunting task !!! I feel your pain!!!

[@be.ndover]

see if you can do all the service yourself and get them to do the final connection and inspection thats what we do here that price is nuts + 10% mark up

[@BruceBergman]

Side boom is overkill 😊 it's not a steel petroleum Pipeline, man! 7:47

[@greggkuzila7513]

Good job I've been playing with my sprinklers for the last 3 or 4 weeks I know what you mean by too much work digging putting together to get some more finish it good job man

[@tedc7714]

Too late but i would have set some polea in the ditch to mark exactly where the wire is.. We had a Woodburner Get a 12 volt one so if light go out it will still pump water. Car battery. They will hold fire 3 days. Electric draft is good too. We kept water at 180 drgrees.

[@jballsflys]

Matt we use a big compressor and a foam conduit pig works very well instead of a shop vac

[@jmcbike]

The power company probably has approved contractors. Find out who they are, then ask them for estimates. You might even get the contractor to allow you to do some of the work.

[@MoMonde]

Matt what a good job! In the last scene drone shot,I think I saw some Electric Company executives getting fat on your land! 😂

[@dcroft65]

I had to pay over $3500 for an upgrade to my transformer and the connection of overhead wires and connection to my meter in 2020 for my new shop. I provided the wire and everything but the meter from the transformer to my shop. Idaho wasn't so bad.

[@jesseblanchard9609]

I had a similar issue with my power company...asked what it would cost to run regular ole power to a garage. I wanted a 200 amp service..just a whole new box etc... They took 6 months to come back and start an interrogation as to why I NEEDED a 200 amp service, why I dont run a subpanel. Why do they care? Give me the price, let me pay the freaking payment and lets go...ridiculous.

[@rcclark8818]

Check into licenced Subcontractors to do the work for the power co. The power co. just has to do the hookup at the pole. In my state this is very common when land developers are building subdivisions.

[@Eargesplitten-Loudenboomer]

I like to use duct tape to cap the pipes of when building things. It's much cheaper than the cap you probably wont use and you can take it off easily. If you start in the morning when it's cool and try to take the cap off in the afternoon when its hot those caps can get pretty hard to take off, and you're probably going to mess it up anyways. It's more expensive for a bigger pain in the ass.

[@andrewcrosby8746]

I'm kind of stumped on that price. That's like $20 per ft! Now your in a different state, different rules, regulations, prices than here in TN. Here labor and materials installing conduit with pull rope with junction boxes every 300 ft is $15 per ft. Wire is I believe around $8 to $10 per ft. I just bid a job, of which they won't be hooking to the grid do to price, 2,400 ft long with the power companies bill and mine comes to $55,600. Hopefully your power company will come down on their price, I don't know if the solar is worth it but with all the work you already did, I'd be sick to just abandon it to do something different. Good luck! Awesome video, interesting how things state to state differ as far as the installation process goes.

[@voinopol]

We had to do this for a water line....a lot of work and money....I regret not putting a wire line also because I also need electricity. It is what it is I planned to put solar panels

[@Philhoppermiller]

Fantastic job Matt. If you want to pull the wire yourself, get a windless puller at a rental place and go for it. Get a couple of friends to help handle the infeed while you work the windless. Or just hire a contractor to do the job. The power company will over charge you for the work. Some electrical supply houses have rental windless for rent also. And if you buy the wire from them, sometimes they will lend you the puller.

[@mickkelly6389]

Set the working track of the excavator inline with the duct wrap pull cord around track use as capstain

[@macsloan58]

These videos are the F-N best. Outstanding!!

[@Fritz_Schlunder]

A $64k hookup fee is pretty unreasonable. Utility companies, consumers, and society in general needs to rethink how electricity is distributed. For that kind of money, one would likely be better off just building a complete off grid solar power system with a solar panel array, a battery bank, an inverter array, and a fossil fuel generator for carrying one through exceptionally cloudy/bad weather days of the year. Alternatively, it would make sense to stop consuming 240V/120V AC at 200A of service capability, with ~5% voltage delivery tolerance. It would be much cheaper to hook up to the grid, if the house had a small battery bank (say 15 kWh of lithium iron phosphate batteries), and a large solar inverter array that can produce upwards of 200A at 240V/120V at locally regulated 5% or better tolerance. When one has a home battery and local inverter (like those used in off-grid solar power systems), it no longer becomes necessary to have 200A utility service, since the average power consumption of a home in the US is only 30 kWh/day, which is around 1.25 kW continuous, when averaged over the entire 24 hour day, which is only ~5.2A at 240V AC. Basically, the average household only uses around ~3% (on average) of their total "200A service" provide by the utility, but in order to provide this level of service, the transformers and wires all have to be sized large enough to handle the full 200A. This means that everything must be effectively oversized by a factor of more than 30x compared to what people actually consume, on average. This oversizing is necessary in order to maintain the ~5% voltage delivery tolerance, and to meet the instantaneous high peak demand loads, when one does not have a local battery pack available at their point of consumption. Basically, having a home battery and inverter (even without a solar array) enables one to meet all of the instantaneous high demand loads (such as clothes dryer, electric range, and electric water heater), of a house, without the need for a large utility service connection capable of 200A. Instead, one can design and configure a battery charger that runs off of something much wimpier than 200A (and with much larger percentage voltage sag allowance during full load operation), which would significantly save on the utility service connection cost. One could for example design a system where the utility company produces 7.8kV AC 60Hz, and makes it available along side road ways. Then, individual consumers in relatively low population density areas could buy a small 7.8kV AC input to 400V DC output (say 15A max) power factor corrected switch mode power supply, to hook up to the grid connection. The 400V DC at 15A service is wimpy enough that it could be transmitted through 12 AWG 600V rated wire like UF-B (which is rated for direct burial without needing a conduit). The maximum available power delivery from 400V at 15A is only 6 kW, which is much lower than the 48 kW service provided to typical homes (via 240V AC at 200A), but it would still be plenty of service to run all normal household loads, when one has a local inverter and battery bank to spread out the peak consumption of high instantaneous loads over the entire 24 hour day. 6kW of service, continuous over 24 hours, is 144 kWh/day, which is plenty for normal residential consumers of electricity (whereby actual residential electricity use is closer to 30 kWh/day on average across the US). The total cost of such a system, using existing inverters and lithium iron phosphate batteries designed for solar power systems, has the potential to be considerably cheaper than the $64k utility hookup mentioned in this video. Such a system described above could realistically be implemented for less than half the cost of the $64k utility connection fee mentioned in this video. Additionally, such a system is better for utility companies, since it effectively adds batteries to the utility grid (at the customers site and expense), which reduces peak demand profile throughout the day, which reduces the total grid sizing and peak power production capacity needed to be maintained available by the utility companies.

[@joshmcdevitt190]

Where’s the expansion coupling between the meter base and trench, or does your POCO not require one? Otherwise great job! That’s a damn long run!

[@dickdegraaff5452]

Dear Matt, Very impressive to learn you did such a job all by yourself. Thanks for sharing this incredible experience and look forward to your next vlog plus send you love from the Netherlands

[@teddyhammack2195]

Wow on their side keep on working on them you have done most of hard work.

[@coshtor]

Matt, I work in the utility sector, and those costs are ridiculous. I am in the midwest, so market rates may be Vastly different, but that seems like they are quoting you to open the trench and lay in the duct as well. If they wont come down on the price, it may be worth seeing if you can have a third party contractor come in and pull the primary.

[@philyew3617]

I'm in the UK and retired a few years back, I'm a Mech Eng and used to supervise capital building projects from bare ground to completion. We would rarely use Utility companies for such works, simple reason, stupid costs. We would almost always use contractors.

[@charlesyates6687]

Are you kidding ? 1/2 mile conuent 4 strans of 1/2" copper wire thats the $64'000 there .

[@frankdodson3534]

Matt plum crazy do what the comment section is saying hire a contractor thay need to make a living and won't bind you over like that. It's going to cost but at least you won't feel the pain from a good screwing.

[@XavierAncarno]

@@charlesyates6687I think you’re right, people don’t realize how copper and other minerals have skyrocketed since the last 10 years with an acceleration caused by armed conflicts in the same area those ore are mined

[@TheMadJoker87]

@@charlesyates6687 he' s getting the transformer installed right next to the workshop, so the main line getting up to that point is high voltage thin wire, as he said, around 10k, probably aluminium instead of copper

[@codysp]

After watching this, I realize how much better equipped you are than the small public works I'm employed with...

[@BRI33NOR]

Damned hard work so far. Now need a power cable pulling thru.. Best of luck

[@zippythechicken]

@@gags730.. you know whats worse than that... legally most state equipment has to be offered for free to local municipalities.. but they never go out and get it.. too much effort.. so your local taxes pay for equipment that they probably could have got used.. maybe not in the best condition but you never know maybe in pretty good condition.. also volunteer firehouses can get free state equipment .. its a good deal that they pass up because either they are clueless or don't realize taxes pay for everything they have.

[@git-er-dun_LBK_]

Depending on the amount of property you have and the desire to construct a required number of residential properties to be served by your project "may" have produced a cost benefit even a profit.

[@hankcrockett1980]

@@BRI33NOR He also does more work than most municipalities. And he is just one man.

[@1980bwc]

He's sure got just about any tool and piece of equipment a guy would need to do most any job.

[@Grumpytoolguy1959]

While I am very aware of the amount of labor and effort involved in layout, survey, removing trees, prep for a dig, trenching, gluing and placing your conduit, making road crossings, half back filling, placing caution tape, finishing the back fill and dressing the dig, I find it even more amazing and impressive that you are able to additionally and simultaneously set up shots on the run, have the presence of mind and creativity to record and produce a professional and enjoyable video that has enough continuity that your viewing public can enjoy ALL while dealing with the personal frustration of dealing with an unreasonable Electrical Power Distributor. Kudos Matt, our hats, hard, welding and otherwise are off to you!

[@Horus9339]

Hear hear. I could not agree more.

[@richardlincoln8438]

Indeed, well said !

[@robertn2813]

Here here !!! Well said !!

[@nudebaboon4874]

Great work around Matt!!!👌👍

[@Anthony_Harper]

I ran into that. They wanted $48,000. Total solar was going to be about 22,000. Then no electric bill. I then talked to a private contractor and he quoted $5,000 plus labor if I trenched it.

[@lawnmowerdude]

Was that tench for high voltage or house voltage?

[@Anthony_Harper]

@@lawnmowerdude I actually don't know. I think it was 7200 volts. I was going to need 3 transformers for the distance. His price was for conduit and cable. I was sitting by him while he was on the phone with his supplier. I don't remember about the transformer price. I think they had to come from TVA which is our power provider. I trench and help with labor. Would be him and me on that. That price was just a rough estimate to get a ballpark idea. This was 2 years ago too.

[@mcg6762]

​@@Anthony_HarperYou don't put more than one transformer in regardless of distance as far as I know.

[@JunkyardJosh]

​@@Anthony_Harperdid you end up going solar? That's my plan

[@Anthony_Harper]

@@JunkyardJosh COVID hit and decided to wait. I have plans to start on some of it this fall.

[@turbokiller410]

As an electrician this is a hell of a lot work for one person. Hats off to you

[@MrBill3288]

Exactly!!. Also i dont see the need for all that conduit for utility cables.. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

​@@MrBill3288maybe not immediately, but direct burial hasnt been a thing in my area for ages, and ive replaced plenty of direct burial service lines that have deteriorated over time and caused issues. Its not great long term if you want your stuff to work a decade or more from now. The cost of conduit is mall compared to the cost of redoing it in a decade. Also most places literally wont let you. Weve known better for a long time.

[@RandomVideosInFlorida]

@@MrBill3288has many purposes

[@chrisforgan731]

@@goosenotmaverick1156 yep in conduit makes repairs and upgrades easier especially if you used conduit 2 or 3 sizes bigger than you need and big radius bends. we did that at my parents and when we upgraded to 3 phase power they simply used our existing cable to pull the trace wire and then bundled the new line with the existing and dragged it back through. saved labour versus trenching new conduit.

[@goosenotmaverick1156]

@@chrisforgan731 ive done that before in commercial spaces to convert from single to 3 phase service. 4" conduit, something near 500' run. The cost savings on materials was astronomical, as well as the fact that it would not have been possible for us to dig anything new, as it was under a large building as well as parking lot, landscaping, etc, of a mixed use comercial/residential mixed use building. Also I live in the Ozarks, our rocks laugh at trenchers. I was digging yesterday and found more than one 100+ pound rocks in my trench. A couple larger than the bucket by a long shot. I wish we could legit use a trencher. 😂

[@OBD01]

I have never gotten a reasonable cost from utilities. The other thing I have never seen is one man do all that work!! 👏👏

[@sjohnson1776]

Having done much of this type of work as a young man, I fully appreciate just how much physical, back wrenching work is involved. It is a TON! Thanks for bringing us along. BTW I am to the point where I view the utilities, commisioners, political pukes etc as the enemy. Yes, they are trying to bend you over to pull wire through a tube and make a connection. Shameful!

[@williamcollins5183]

A tube ? WTF

[@RobertLake-mf2qt]

Perhaps you have already requested this, but you should ask for an itemized list of the costs from the utility company. They should be able to do this and you would be able to really zero-in on the particular ridiculous figure(s). You are doing a tremendous job and you deserve special kudos for what you have done. The best to you!

[@jfbeam]

Indeed. Looks like they made it buy the transformers... and the truck that delivered it! I could see ~10k$ for cable, conduit, and machine rental.

[@piefingers1369]

Sounds like they quoted to do the entire thing, trenching conduits cable etc. Definitely ask for an itemised breakdown then buy the cable yourself and pull it though so they just have the transformers and connections to do.

[@JohnDoe-bd5sz]

I wonder, if the correct wire cost 10.000 USD if he bought it, if it would be possible for him to just buy the cable and do the pulls himself. This way they would have to give him the price, only to wire the transformers and labor. This way there would be no way they could upmark the cable price.

[@ronfrance4041]

I work for an electric utility. Last I knew the cost to run wire after you install the pipe was around $14 per foot. The wire itself cost between $2-$3 per foot. Most primary conductor distributors require you to be either a utility or a utility contractor to purchase the wire. If you have to upgrade or install a totally separate pole for your riser pole, that’s additional cost. Most utilities supply the transformer for free…. These are the basic details, it gets complicated after that

[@squirtdaddy3428]

I brought in 3phase power to my place about 6 years ago. It was for a 9600sq.ft shop and a future residence. The electric rep. told me that if it were for a residence rather than a shop, a lot of the costs I would not have to pay for, but for business service, I had to cover 100% of the costs myself. We planned to build a large house out there also about a year after the shop, but by then I would have already paid for everything except the 1 transformer for the house. What I did after talking with the power company rep was to build a 6 car garage with living quarters on top of it. By doing that the power company only charged me for the one extra wire for the 3 phase, and both of the transformers for my shop, everything else after working with the rep, they covered. Still cost me $28,000.00 but would have been almost $70,000.00 had I not built the garage-house first since they considered it to be 100% commercial had I built the shop first. Also, for the shop they totaled all the electric for the first year of use then for the next 5 years years, at the end of each year they rebated me 30% of the total first year billing for the shop. Unfortunately the first year usage of the shop was not a very big bill because I was moving all the equipment from my old shop and getting the new shop set up for use. In total over a 5 year period I got a rebate of about $1400.00 per year with a total of slightly over $7000.00 for the full 5 years. Had the shop been in full operation that first year I could have easily gotten over 50% of shop installation costs. Although cramped, by building the garage-apartment , it gave us a convenient place to live, while building our house. The house we sold, sold within 1 month of listing it, so the apartment was a great place to move into. When dealing with your county for permits, if you were to do the garage-apt. thing, NEVER, EVER say the word apartment when dealing with the building dept. for permits etc. Call it finished storage space or house, ( you can call it an inlaw suite but if you do there is a long list of requirements you will have to meet, and will cost you more money to build.) I stuck with conditioned, finished storage space on drawing and permits and that worked for me with no problems, just don't name rooms , bedrooms, kitchen etc. or there are much more requirements. If your area allows agricultural buildings, rename your shop as that, taxes will be lower and there can be other rewards depending on where you live. That's what my shop was called on all permits was an Ag. building, like you, I had lots of land so it met all necessary requirements as an Ag. Sorry to write so much, thought some of this might help you,since I already went through it all, for my state of VA I learned a lot of what and what not to do.

[@johnking8679]

What great advice for Matt !! I'm sure if he is able to follow along, he should be able to enjoy some substantial savings !! It never ceases to amaze me how this "governmental" baloney can sometimes make or break the average citizen !! It was plain to see how all the "hoops" that Matt is/was required to endure from the authorities, had somewhat of an emotional toll on the poor man !! My prayer is that you find a way around this ridiculous fee !!

[@davidwhite4474]

How about putting a trailer ( mobile home ) ?

[@jakegypsum780]

Awesome advice!

[@ml.2770]

GOLD.

[@strydyrhellzrydyr1345]

Hey Matt... did you read this one... you really should

[@mikecorrado4971]

The cost of pulling that wire and hooking it up is outrageous. I’m glad you’re contesting it, and I hope you receive a favorable decision on a more reasonable cost. You have done all of the hard work.

[@paulcurtis9852]

With all that work you still managed to take us along for the ride with lots of great camera shots....a ton of extra work just there! And the drone overview at the end was superb! Thanks so much for your quality production and ongoing effort!

[@DieselCreek]

Thanks 👍

[@liver.flush.maestro]

@@DieselCreek You can buy a nice solar panel + battery setup for $64000 🙂 Or a "diesel" generator? 🤣

[@hotrodhunk7389]

49:41 they charge that much because they don't want to do it. If they laid the line they're responsible for it. They just don't care about one house. They care about a giant factory that uses $50k a month in power.

[@Monkeh616]

At the end of the day, they're (unfortunately) a business out to make a profit. They don't want the responsibility and they do have to be able to cover their costs - for this installation and untold thousands of other low-margin ones.

[@SeizureSpecialist]

@@Monkeh616hotrod is right here, this isn't about turning a profit. They're basically telling Matt to go f--- himself with that price. Like he said, the cable isn't that expensive and, speaking from experience, I can't imagine it taking more than a few days with a few guys to pull in that much cable, especially if they use a machine to do it which they'd be idiots not to do. Unless there's a colossal cost for the wire tap itself, then they're absolutely price gouging because they're not interested unless they can make a ludicrous profit. I've seen it before with other people in my dad's line of work. He used to refit bathrooms for disabled people, and you'd see other guys quoting 25 to 30 grand Australian to refit one room because they didn't want the job.

[@cr-cg7kn]

yup.. same thing in my industry , hvac .. unfortunately most home owners are not smart enough to get a FREE second estimate.. 🤷‍♂️

[@Monkeh616]

@@SeizureSpecialist In other words, it is about making a profit. They don't want to take on the financial responsibility of maintaining it because it's a low margin installation which won't benefit them. We're not disagreeing, here.

[@brentmostowy1648]

Yep, I call that the "Go Away Number"

[@alanstant9356]

You know with the magic of editing, it makes you seem like that's an easy job there lol. I bet you will be happy to have everything done and have power running to your garage Matt.

[@JAY61ish]

Well said mate,, the ole Hyperlapse thing really does makes things look quick and easy.. When most jobs Matt does are anything But!!

[@alanstant9356]

@@JAY61ish oh I know man.

[@DieselCreek]

You got that right!

[@pacificcoastpiper3949]

@@DieselCreekI agree with you. $52k is ABSOLUTELY HIGHWAY ROBBERY

[@michaelhartzell9758]

I'm tired as hell JUST WATCHING YOU!! Im only a third of the way in but surely your saving so much money, the monstrous amount of time and energy is well worth it! My condolences to your back tho!

[@gp7013]

Despite all the effort and cost you did the right thing the right way. Another project of high quality work and great content to view! Cheers Matt 💪🏼

[@murphymmc]

An incredible amount of work for one guy, well done. You've never mentioned the joys of dealing with inspectors on this project. We can't cover unless they inspect the depth, number of sweeps, on and on, and of course, at their convenience to make it to the site. Out here in Washington State we are captive to PP and L, ...Pacific Power and Larceny. It is a given, these days, for power companies to take on an elitist, corporate mindset. They act put out when you need a repair on downed lines and have no qualms making you wait for them to fit you into their schedule for the power they're overcharging you for.

[@DavidSellars-b8l]

Kind of like our Pacific Graft and Extortion (PG&E). Have to keep that fleet for blue and white trucks going. And then there are all the fires they start.

[@rhondasweeney7271]

I feel you have gone above and beyond what should have been done. That is absolute highway robbery that the electrical company is doing to you. Hopefully, it will get resolved. Thank you for sharing! I can hardly wait to see what is next! 🤔🙄😊

[@markbehr88]

Thoroughly enjoying these longer videos Matt. Well done on a fantastic job.

[@adman6380]

I’m in Australia and about 300 metres from the nearest pole(it doesn’t have a transformer on it though) and with me doing the trench the local sparky said between him and the power company it would be about $80 thousand dollars! He suggested solar would be quite a bit cheaper , so I spent $20000 on solar instead

[@davidskabelund4298]

Yes, Matt would be better served with solar and batteries if they don’t budge from the $52k estimate.

[@Jaidel33]

My favorite part of this video is seeing the raw takes the double or triple takes of Matt trying to speak his mind. shows how much extra work goes into youtube on top of all the hard work in building his dreams. Keep going my friend I truly love your content

[@DieselCreek]

Glad you enjoyed it! I was falling asleep trying to edit this. Lots of long days and nights trying to catch up after this project so I missed a few things

[@wldmcmullen]

I like seeing those too it's nice to see someone not afraid to show their slip-ups and being tongue tied we all do it.

[@redmapleranch]

I was thinking the same thing. I started my channel this year and do the same pause between takes. It makes me feel better seeing a larger, more experience youtuber go through the same thing.

[@zchats]

I agree, I love this about him.. No weird jump cuts and no stupid "uhhh, ummm uh.." He just simply stops talking and starts fresh like a proper live radio and/or TV host does.

[@wallysprint]

I was thinking the same thing...

[@nsbhagwat]

As posted in the part 1, what you have done is crazy hard work. Grit, determination, motivation in abundance here. All the very best.

[@Pete-qn8gp]

21,365$

[@dannyisaacs3877]

You truly are a motivation to watch, Matt. Seeing you just get after everything like its nothing, no matter the size of the job, really makes a guy happy.

[@BobCthegardener]

I think your videos, whether in the shop or outdoor projects, are the most interesting ones on KZbin. Watching you work mostly by yourself inspires me because it's just me doing my projects too. You're a patient man and I'm definitely not 😊

[@MKMALM2024]

Matt you're one of the hardest workers if not the hardest worker on KZbin. The fact that you do all of this by yourself is mind boggling! That is why you have what you have. Keep it up !

[@davidhopkins9021]

I can see the digger moving behind I think he had a little help but even still fair play for doing this big job