Why would my Delta electrician want to abandon the underground feed and go overhead?

An overhead service is almost always cheaper and faster to complete, and in Delta that difference can be significant. Expect the overhead option to come in roughly $1,500 to $3,500 less than restoring or replacing an underground feed, depending on run length and what the underground work involves.

Here is what is likely driving the recommendation.

Underground feeds fail in ways that are expensive to diagnose and fix. The conduit or direct-burial cable may have cracked from ground movement, root intrusion or corrosion, allowing moisture into the conductors. Finding the fault often means renting locating equipment and sometimes excavating, before a single wire is replaced. If the conduit run is long or passes under a driveway, patio or landscaping, the dig-up cost alone can exceed the entire overhead alternative.

In Delta specifically, the soil conditions in low-lying areas near the Fraser River and the Boundary Bay flats are clay-heavy and prone to settling. That movement stresses underground conduit joints over time, and it is one reason electricians in Delta and Richmond see more underground feed failures than in hillside municipalities. Corrosion at the meter base and at the point where the conduit enters the panel is also common in areas with high water tables.

The practical comparison looks like this. An overhead service drop from BC Hydro's pole to a new weatherhead and meter base typically costs $2,500 to $5,500 all in for a standard 200A service, including the permit and BC Hydro's disconnect and reconnect. Replacing or repairing a failed underground feed can run $4,000 to $9,000 or more once excavation, conduit, conductors, backfill and surface restoration are factored in, and that is before any panel work.

There are legitimate reasons to stay underground: strata or municipal rules that prohibit overhead drops, a lot layout where no pole is close enough, or a heritage streetscape covenant. Ask your electrician whether the overhead option is actually permitted by Delta's local requirements and whether BC Hydro's nearest pole is positioned to make a clean run.

Because Delta is outside the seven municipalities that run their own electrical permit programs, your permit comes from Technical Safety BC. The electrician pulls the permit, BC Hydro coordinates the disconnect and reconnect, and an inspection follows before the service is re-energised. Make sure the quote you have includes the Technical Safety BC permit fee, BC Hydro's reconnection charge (roughly $1,200 when they have to send a crew), and any surface restoration if the overhead option still requires any trenching for the panel-side conduit.

Before you decide, ask the electrician to put both options in writing with itemised costs, and confirm their Technical Safety BC licence number before signing anything.

Want quotes from a second or third local electrician on this? Vancouver Electrical Repair can match you with Metro Vancouver electricians for free so you can compare the overhead versus underground numbers side by side.