When buying a parcel of country land, most buyers might just assume that there is power to that tract of land. Some power lines are buried along the right away of the road, others may be along the roadside on overhead lines, like in this photo I took.
The cost to bring power on a tract of vacant land in our area can be very costly and it depends on how far away the building site is located to the nearest power source or pole.
The cost is approximately $5 to $7 per foot. At the present I am working on closing a sale, which has required the verification of the availability and the cost of electric service. The buyer took it upon himself to verify the utility costs and was told the power was approximately ½ miles away. That was not a happy moment: (1 mile = 5 280 feet / 2= 2640 x 7 = $18,480). His next call was to me about this. When I was told that the company said where the closest power was, I knew it was a mistake so over the weekend I had to go out and get the pole number off the nearest pole. Since then, things got straighten out and hopefully this sale has been saved by knowing that nearest pole number. The actual cost should be more or less, closer to around $3500 . 
Are you searching for homes to buy in Viroqua or Vernon County Wisconsin
call Mary Strang therteam.com RE/MAX Hill Country Realty 608-606-2999
About the author:
Mary Strang is the Broker-owner of RE/MAX Hill Country Realty located in Viroqua, WI. Home to Organic farming, a small rural city population of about 4000 and a great place to live! Copyright © 2009 by Mary Strang. All rights reserved... " Please turn on the lights!" the blog post was written by Mary Strang is believed accurate but may not be guaranteed.
Mary --- This just goes to prove that one must know the area in which they are selling property --- the agent must know these kinds of things. Congratulations on saving the deal.
BTW, Please take a look at a recent post that I wrote: Motivatonal Monday. I'm just trying to get the word out.
Mary this is such an important post because alot of people just have no idea about stuff like this and as you mention it can add thousands which can kill a deal. Thank goodness it will only cost your people $3500 instead of over $18,000. Wooooow what a difference!
Liz I did go read your Motivational Monday post, thanks for mentioning it. I will comment over there tomorrow.
Debra: There will be a few other costs added in such as a transformer, but it is a huge difference and less drama than earlier felt coming my way.
No power...oh yicks....we only have to occasionally deal with well and septic issues...or it the land will perk...no power...maybe you should move that log cabin to this lot !
Great post. A lot of people have "pipe dreams" about builiding on vaccant lots and have no idea how expensive adding utilities can actually be.
Good detective work- I am sure your buyer is much more happy now.
Mary Knowing the market you serve is more important than all the modern gadgets
Christine & Jennifer, In our market place you can estimate around $25,000 more or less for well, septic and electric, thanks for commenting.
Art: Thanks yes and the gadgets often don't work or become obsolete.
Now see Mary...if you were a city slicker...pole numbers wouldn't be part of your vocabulary and some cables would be underground and really hard to read ! What realtors won't do...hope the appreciate you !