It would take an estimated $250 million and at least ten years to take Bermuda's electricity distribution system completely underground, Belco said yesterday.

Speaking on the call for underground cabling for the first time since Fabian ripped through Bermuda tearing power from 25,000 homes, the utilities giant said, as a private company, it "could not and would not undertake such a mammoth programme".

In a letter to shareholders released yesterday Belco president and CEO Garry Madeiros said:

"We do not believe Bermuda should invest $250 million on an underground electricity system that will not provide the Island any economic return on that significant investment.

"There is no country in the world that has a total underground system."

The Belco chief made similar statements at the weekly Hamilton Rotary luncheon, highlighting that while the call for underground cabling is renewed following every major storm to hit Bermuda, Belco's position has not changed.

The projected cost of $250 million is according to a study done two years ago, he said, and even if Bermuda was prepared to pay the price, outages would still occur: "It's not a panacea."

"As history and our experience has proven, there is a direct correlation between the rare cases of extended power outages brought about by storms and the interest and commitment to investing the estimated $250 million it would take to underground the entire Island over a ten to 20 year period," Mr. Madeiros said in his letter to shareholders.

"This is a far cry from the $20 million, three-year programme suggested by a writer in the Bermuda Sun."

Belco held meetings with Government after Hurricane Emily - and more recently after Hurricane Dean and Storm Karen - to discuss the many hurdles to going underground which, in addition to financing, would include compulsory easements and way-leaves over private property to install cables and equipment, extensive traffic congestion and re-instatement of road systems.

Developing a fair tariff formula to cover costs would also be difficult "given the fact that many residents would not be able to realise the benefit of an underground system for ten years or more", he said.

But despite high interest in cabling in the aftermath of storms, public and Government interest tends to fall off shortly after, he added.

"Should a major Island-wide undergrounding programme ever be considered, it would require a total commitment on the part of Government and the community for funding, legislation, land and acceptance of inconvenience," Mr. Madeiros said.

And underground cabling would offer no guarantee that there would not be power outages following future hurricanes and major storms, the Belco chief suggested.

"We have just witnessed Hurricane Isabel pounding North Carolina and Virginia and affecting other states where 5.5 million customers lost electricity," he said.

"As a community we have a number of competing needs requiring sizeable financial outlays and there are limits to our resources, financial and other.

"Collectively, we need to prioritise our needs and invest our funds in areas where the Island will realise long-term economic benefits.

"As miserable as being without electricity is, $250 million is a high price for the community to pay for the potential reduction of inconvenience in the aftermath of a storm.

"Additionally, an underground system is no guarantee against outages, as both Emily and Fabian resulted in damage to our underground system, which takes longer to repair than overhead."

Nevertheless, Mr. Madeiros said Belco was proceeding with underground cabling on a piecemeal basis "where it is affordable and feasible".

"We have experimented with large underground projects on public roads such as North Shore, Shelly Bay," he said. "We are working with the St. George's Foundation on projects to underground the Old Town.

"We have worked with and encouraged those who were prepared to pay for the undergrounding on private/public property for their own benefit, and we continue to take advantage of opportunities to place our system underground where it can be done in conjunction with other capital project work, the latest example being the Admiralty House Substation project.

"This aside, our position on a major Island-wide undergrounding initiative has not changed."