After Hurricane Irma knocked out electricity to 90 percent of Florida Power & Light customers, a familiar question arose from the dark: Why aren’t we putting electrical lines underground?

The answer, we’re told, is that burying power lines is really expensive and not foolproof. Underground lines do better in windstorms, but less well in wet storms. That’s because flood waters can damage pad-mounted transformers and standing water can hold up repairs. And unlike overhead lines where everything is clearly visible, fixing problems on underground lines takes digging.

So as the crisis ebbs, we get on with our lives until the next hurricane knocks out power again — closing businesses, destroying inventories, spoiling refrigerated foods, hitting pocketbooks and spiking electric bills with repair-related add-ons. Sadly, more people also will succumb to sweltering heat, accidents or carbon-monoxide poisoning from generators.

But some Florida communities haven’t given up. Rather, they are digging deep to bury neighborhood lines. They’ve discovered it’s a false equivalency to frame the choice as “good in wind, bad in rain.” The evidence is in. On most measures, underground lines are far better.

FPL, which powers half the state, says it can’t yet compare the performance of underground systems to overhead lines post-Irma. A forensic analysis is planned. And comparisons are tricky because 81 percent of the grid is a hybrid of the two.

But the company’s 2015 reliability report to the Florida Public Service Commission shows that over a five-year period, its underground systems significantly outperformed overhead lines on three of four measures.

In 2014, for example, the report showed on average:

Overhead customers were without power for 108.1 minutes, compared to 19.4 minutes for underground customers.

Overhead customers had 1.35 service interruptions, compared to .4 for underground customers.

We’re not saying this is a good or bad thing. We’re simply pointing out that today’s rules for burying power lines are giving rise to a rich-poor divide. And should it continue, we could see power inequality after big storms to come.

You can't call the disparity unfair, since home and business owners are paying the costs of burying lines in their neighborhoods. Still, we posed the question to J.R. Kelly, who heads the Office of Public Counsel, the agency that represents public interests before the Public Service Commission.

Should free market principles apply to a regulated business granted a monopoly by government?

“It’s an excellent question, there’s just not an easy answer,” Kelly said. “The bottom line is, who should pay? That’s the bigger question.

“If you underground in one neighborhood and make everybody else pay for it, then everybody is subsidizing that one neighborhood. The flip side is, if you require undergrounding everywhere, you may have senior citizens on fixed incomes and low-income people calling time out, saying, ‘I can’t afford that huge rate increase. I don’t care about having my utilities underground. My power may go out for a day or two, but I can’t afford that extra charge on my bill.’ That’s the dilemma, the dichotomy, posed in your question.”

FPL says its directive is clear — to provide reliable and safe energy at the lowest possible cost.

“That standard is an overhead system,” says spokesman Bill Orlove.

Still, because underground lines reduce operations and maintenance costs, FPL offers communities a 25 percent credit on construction costs. It also proposes giving them a break if they underground lines where hardened poles are planned.

“So, for example, if downtown Fort Lauderdale wants to underground the line down Broward Boulevard and we were already going to harden it, they would receive an extra savings or credit because we’ve designated it as one we want to harden,” Orlove said.

FPL would also have you know that since the weeks-long outages that followed Hurricane Wilma in 2005, it has spent $3 billion to improve reliability. The money went to reinforce above-ground poles and structures, trim trees, install smart-grid technology and put some equipment and lines underground. As a result, it says its post-Irma restoration performance was second to none.

Nevertheless, the utility missed its promise to essentially restore power in South Florida within seven days. Hard-hit Coral Gables has fined the company and threatened to sue. Its leaders also are talking about burying power lines, which the Miami Herald says could cost $250 million and require a tax increase.

Like other communities, Coral Gables may find its citizens balk at the cost.

Last year’s vote in Palm Beach was a real nail-biter. It passed by just 56 votes, or one percent of those who turned out. The outcome means the owner of a single-family home in Palm Beach will pay $1,190 — and a condominium owner will pay $331 — every year for 30 years.

Off Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, City Manager Lee Feldman says residents of Riviera Isles and Idlewyld are waiting to learn the price tag.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s been a priority for FPL, so while they’re obligated to do the work, they’re not obligated to do it in any time frame,” he said. “The last several years, we’ve been at their mercy.” Palm Beach, he said, had a similar foot-dragging experience with FPL.

Once the cost is known, approval will require a yes vote from 70 percent of neighbors who vote. How much each pays will likely be determined by the property’s linear footage or per-parcel, he said, but probably not on the property’s value.

We shall see how many more property owners are willing to pay $10,000, $20,000 or $30,000 over many years to largely avoid the disruption of power outages from afternoon thunderstorms and perhaps the big one.

But among the lessons of Irma is the realization that a rich-poor trend is developing in the push to bury power lines.

We don’t know the solution. California makes customers pay a $1 monthly surcharge to bury power lines, but its funds have run out of money. The Florida Legislature could levy a small tax, with low-income folks somewhat shielded by the homestead exemption and the new exemption for low-income seniors. But that’s never going to happen given Tallahassee’s no-new-taxes mantra.

Plus, because of local ordinances, most new developments in South Florida are putting utility lines underground. And given the number of suburbs with lines already buried, where’s the fairness in a broad-based tax or surcharge?

So unless we’re willing to open our wallets and bleed green, it appears we’re just going to have live with the century-old technology of stringing ugly power lines from pole to pole. And when some future hurricane knocks out the lights, visit some ritzy neighborhood for a hot meal and air conditioning.