Homeowners in Palm Springs' Old Las Palmas neighborhood are preparing to pay well over $100,000 each to strip away the overhead power lines crisscrossing their streets, betting that buried wires will pay off in both safety and resale value. The Palm Springs City Council took a formal step toward making that happen on August 26, when it preliminarily approved the engineer's report for the Old Las Palmas underground utility assessment district.
That vote marks a real administrative milestone, moving the neighborhood closer to establishing the property tax assessment zone that would fund the undergrounding work, according to a filing reviewed by Govly. As reported by The Desert Sun, Old Las Palmas is home to celebrities and billionaires, and many homeowners there say they are willing to pay for the change because they believe buried lines are worth it for both safety and looks. Some residents also think eliminating the overhead wires would boost their homes' resale value down the line, per the same report.
How a Neighborhood Petition Became a City Process
The push to bury Old Las Palmas' power lines formally began at a neighborhood kickoff meeting on April 23, 2025, after Palm Springs passed a municipal ordinance letting local neighborhoods take the lead on forming their own utility assessment districts, according to the Racquet Club Estates Neighborhood Organization. That ordinance essentially handed homeowners the tools to petition for localized infrastructure upgrades rather than waiting on a utility to act first.
The neighborhood itself has deep roots that help explain why residents are willing to spend so heavily on aesthetics. Old Las Palmas was established in the mid-1920s on former citrus grove land developed by builder Alvah Hicks and developer Prescott Stevens, and it now contains roughly 290 single-family homes at the base of Mount San Jacinto, according to the Old Las Palmas Neighborhood Organization. Often called the “Beverly Hills of Palm Springs,” the neighborhood holds the city's largest concentration of celebrity estates, with historic and modern residents including Leonardo DiCaprio, Liberace, Elizabeth Taylor, and Clark Gable, according to the Coachella Valley Independent.
Why California Homeowners, Not Ratepayers, Are Footing the Bill
Undergrounding utility lines in California is governed by Electric Tariff Rule 20, which the California Public Utilities Commission splits into three tiers: Rule 20A, fully funded by ratepayers for public benefit projects; Rule 20B, partially ratepayer funded; and Rule 20C, funded primarily by private property owners or applicants. Neighborhoods pursuing purely aesthetic undergrounding, like Old Las Palmas, generally fall into the categories that put the financial burden on residents rather than the broader utility customer base.
For communities pursuing aesthetic undergrounding, the work may need to be funded out-of-pocket through private assessment districts.
The Real Price Tag: More Than Six Figures Per Home
The costs behind those six-figure assessments are steep by any measure. Undergrounding can cost more than $6 million per mile, according to the Los Angeles Times. Southern California Edison put its own undergrounding average at $3.8 million per mile in April 2025, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal, versus just $840,000 per mile for covered conductor, the insulated overhead wire SCE has used to harden 6,400 miles of line since 2019.
Even after a neighborhood assessment district covers the shared cost of burying the main lines, individual homeowners face another expense: private service connections running from the street to their own electrical panel. State tariff rules require property owners to cover that “cutover” themselves, which SCE estimated in 2025 and 2026 could add $8,000 to $40,000 in personal out-of-pocket costs per property, according to the Los Angeles Times.
A Model Other Palm Springs Neighborhoods Are Watching
Old Las Palmas isn't operating in isolation. Its undergrounding project is farther along than efforts in some other Palm Springs communities, with groups like the Racquet Club Estates Neighborhood Organization forming subcommittees to explore their own utility assessment districts, weighing wildfire prevention and aesthetic upgrades against the steep costs involved.
Whether that model spreads may depend on how Old Las Palmas' project plays out in the coming months, now that the city council has cleared the engineer's report and moved the district closer to formal approval. For now, the neighborhood's homeowners appear ready to absorb the expense themselves, betting that buried lines will pay dividends in both safety and curb appeal.
