Determinants of homeowners' attitudes to the installation of high-voltage overhead transmission lines

Abstract

This article deals comprehensively with factors which influence attitudes to the placement of high-voltage overhead transmission lines (HVOTLs). It employs an analytical schema which links the initial stimulus of the power lines' proposal in an area to Background and Socio-economic independent variables and a set of mediating variables. From a survey of 600 residents in three different domiciliary settings in Queensland, Australia, results indicate an absence of positive attitudes and, at best, neutral ones to HVOTL placement. By multinomial logistic regression, the study probes the grounds behind negativity and extreme negativity, uncovering direct links between these attitudes and certain of the variables included in the analytical schema.

Keywords:

• electricity transmission
• attitude
• negativity
• risk perception
• health effects

Acknowledgements

In the interests of obtaining unbiased and dispassionate results, the electricity supplier who funded the survey work behind this project wishes to remain anonymous. Its support is, however, gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. This situation contrasts with the writing relating to pylon design for wind power which has received significant attention (Pasqualetti, Gipe, and Righter 2002). See, however, the work on HVOTLs of Devine-Wright and Devine-Wright (2009) and Devine-Wright, Devine-Wright, and Sherry-Brennan (2010).

2. Respondents were allocated into the four worldview groups by means of a proxy question: ‘we would like to get your view on how you would go about selling your home to achieve the best price. With which one of the following statements would you most readily agree?’

• ‘The best approach is to engage professionals for sales advice and assistance’ (hierarchists, n = 461)

• ‘The important thing is to seek a fair price in the market and that way everyone involved wins’ (egalitarian, n = 38)

• ‘I think I am the best judge of value in the market and would prefer to undertake the sale myself’ (individualist n = 36)

• ‘It is a waste of time messing around, you can only get what the market is prepared to offer’ (fatalist, n = 62)

Notwithstanding the shorthand method of appraising respondents, it is acknowledged that this operational question could itself have occupied a whole research project.