And it's also not fool-proof... workers have to dig around lines that are already underground...cable and fiberoptic lines. And execs also admit that the heat generated by underground power lines is an issue. However, they say the big plus is obvious-- having these lines underground will most definitely reduce outages that are related to weather. We all remember either shivering ourselves, or hearing stories of our friends and family trying to stay warm when hundreds of thousands lost power after the ice storm of 2006. Iced over trees fell on many of those power lines. High winds also knocked over trees during our big summer storm. With so many older neighborhoods in the metro, those neighborhoods with seemingly endless trees, Ameren UE execs say it's next to impossible to keep up with tree-trimming. Hence the plan to bury many lines. If you're reading this thinking it all sounds great and why not do it everywhere, the answer is money. Ameren estimates it would cost upwards of $40 billion to bury all the lines in the company's system. Instead, Ameren is spending $1 billion on 900 different underground projects, along with stepping up tree-trimming. And yes, some of those costs will eventually be passed on to you and I. The company has not even begun to take the required steps with government commissions that are necessary to implement a rate hike. However, CEO Tom Voss admits it's not a question of if we'll pay, but rather when. How much we'll pay is still in the air. Voss says the amount of these projects would probably be amortized, or spread, over a 30 year period, so there probably wouldn't be drastic increases suddenly. And while almost no one wants to see any bill go higher, I wonder if those who spent days in a cold house during the ice storm, or days in a hot house during the big summer storm have a different opinion. On the other hand, I also wonder what people will say or do if/when there's a big outage even AFTER these lines have been buried.