Seems I remember someone telling me about how the power company wanted to charge for running a line to his new house because it was over a longer than normal distance. Once it was installed they would be responsible for it's maintenence.
That may have been the case and the previous owner found it cheaper to have an electrical contractor do it and gamble on how long it'll last versus paying the higher power company fee. So the power company hung the meter on the pole and he ran his own line to the house.
His gain, your loss.

I've had underground service for 15 years with no trouble, although I think it may be in conduit.

If in fact they can dig to find the broken cable (dangerous in itself!!) an underground splice is ok IF it is sealed well and uses approved watertight encapsulation. It is done all the time.
I am rural also at the lake & I put the meter at the house & one on the garage......the utility had to replace the one to the garage last year for free!! yeh!!!!

My entire neighborhood is underground feed. There is no utility pole in the entire sub-division. Cable, electric,telephone..its all buried underground. I am now having an issue with my power intermitently going out. It has gone out 6-7 times in the past 30 days. The power company is trying to tell me that "tree branches rubbing on the lines" can cause this... She didnt get it that I have no lines visible so this could not happen.... <shakin head>.. oh well...

I was just thinking, maybe the power company didn't offer underground service back when the house was built and the owner insisted on it. Power comp. said "ok, fine, we'll mount the meter on the pole and you run your own line.", so he did.

You want to hear something stupid, I have a box mounted above my A/C unit that has a breaker in it. I was doing some servicing on the unit and pulled the breaker thinking it was for the A/C. NOT!
As soon as I pulled it the wife came running out asking why all the power in the house went off?
I flipped back up and all power was restored.
Damn electricians mounted a whole house disconnect outside in an unlocked box easily accessible to anyone. SOB!!! I ran right out and bought a padlock for it.

Mine did the same thing this past summer, and in ohio if its underground and before it reaches your house it's the power companys responsibility to fix it, they fixed mine and no charge to me and it works fine now

Our house in Jersey had wires from the pole and they were knocked down three times in one winter. Power comp. fixed them each time and even trimmed the tree that was causing the trouble, never a charge.

Undergroud feeds are actually MORE reliable then above ground. The problem is the Alluminum wire. As you have found it corrodes faster and also does not carry the current of Copper. If you think that it was a "breach in the wire" then I would have them tone the wire, find the break and you will be set. The only reason that is not a acceptable fix is if the corrosion is over the entire length of the wire. Other then that it should be fine.

Jon

Budman.
I am a Lineman for the powewr company in New Jersey, rule says that a splice must be made to equal or better the quailty of the wire. I have made many splices in the past with splice kits from a manufactuer called burndey and never had a splice burn up at primary or secondary voltage. As long as it is made correct and sealed with a silicone they provide it will last. Splice it we do all the time and if you do have a problem in the future it isn't going to be at the splice, as far as the tree roots that is wires worst enemy.

Splice it and still have some loot leftover for those heads!

P.S. the power company wont be involved in your service because it is customer owned, not sticking up for them lord knows that I am no angle when it comes to that!

ChrisK.

How is your underground developement fed?
Overehead!, follow the pole at the begining of your developement it is fed by overhead wires! and a tree branch rubbing or making contact with the line will trip the reclosure at the sub or if there are reclosures out in the feild they will operate?

Has the meter been checked? I lost one leg of my power and it was the meter. Power company put a shorting strap in the meter box and came back a few days later with a new meter.