[quote=Hobie]CAR: The trenching is the reason for the $$. City permits, marking out, working around existing utilitys add to cost. If you had underground conduit sized accordingly for the new service, cheaper or free new wire upgrade to the meter, me thinks.

More $$ if drop is from overhead pole supplied by undersized xformer as Blog mentioned.[/quote]

That makes sense. I guess you had above-ground lines, too? Lucky! 🙂