Following the release of its new undergrounding report, TransGrid admitted being wrong by as much as 50% in its initial underground costing. Still, we believe the actual cost would be closer to 80% cheaper, with new work done in Europe and the United States indicating that undergrounding the lines can do it much more efficiently. 

When coupled with the ongoing maintenance costs and outages associated with old towers technology, undergrounding could be the cheaper long-term option, even before you factor in the price of environmental and community devastation associated with these vast towers and the clear-felling of forests and habitats.

We insist that Transgrid and our State and Federal politicians rethink HumeLink for future generations of Australians and put the cables underground like they do in Europe, California, Victoria and many other forward-thinking jurisdictions worldwide.