I'm in the planning stages of building on 32 acres we purchased a year and a half ago. There is no power to the property currently, although there is service available at the road. If I opt for underground, I'll have to run a trench about 1200' to the house. In discussions with the power company, they say they'll run a "single-phase primary" to the site, terminating at a transformer... at a significant cost of course! In an effort to save money, can I run secondary phase service from the house to the pole at the road where the power company can then put their transformer? They're talking about $20k for the primary phase wire....I assume if I get a thick enough cable I can run the secondary phase wire(s) to compensate for the distance loss?

I am generally competent with electrical circuits and wiring. I have wired homes. I reference wiring diagrams, etc. So, I am not a total newbie. Not an electrician, but pretty knowledgeable. I have an old farmhouse. Need I say more? All that said, YEARS ago a light quit working. It was a junky florescent that was poorly installed (flush mounted against a drop ceiling). We do not use the room much. I finally got around to messing with it. I hated to drop the large fixture, so I decided to do the switch. The physical switch has two switches, each single pole. As far as I know, these are the only things on the breaker; I have never found anything else. The one toggle works fine. To be clear, I turn off power at the breaker before making a change. I see that the power to the secondary switch/fixture turns off and consider it safe. This is done for each change mentioned below. Step 1: I bought another switch and wired it identically. No change. Step 2: Time to pull down the fixture. I attempted to pull it down normally. It did not go so well. The fixture was quite heavy and as I removed the last supprt screw, it came down faster than I thought. I did not have a chance to examine the wiring as it pulled apart on its own. I looked at the wire nuts. One was missing (A) and I could not find it on the floor. It was a bundle of several wires without a wirenut. Hmm. I do not know of anything else running on the circuit, remember. Two other older wirenuts were there. One was on a single wire by itself (C). Another had three wires (B). Hmm. I should have tested at this point, but I did not. I guessed. I hooked up the fixture to wirenut A and C. No dice. Step 3: Time to pull out the meter. I have a DVM. I put a jumper on the wire at the fixture and run that jumper down to where I can touch the switch leads. Wirenut A did not show continuity anywhere at the switch. Wirenut B seemed to flicker all over the place. I assumed my jumper wire was not connecting well. Dumb assumption, but I made it. I tested wire C. It had continuity. I attached to B and C. Turn on power. The puzzle: The light did not turn on. Then, I turned on the second switch and both illuminated. Hmm. I killed the breaker so I could think but left both switches on. Both lights FLICKERED continually. Yes, the breaker is off. Both are flickering. I separate my wirenuts and the secondary switch works fine. HELP! I hope you are following what I have said. I do not understand the wiring, and now feel like I need to take additional precautions so I do not get electrocuted (kill main for testing). Why the heck is there power on the circuit with the breaker off?