Cost of undergrounding power lines is large. Especially over the distribution network (in that there is a lot more of it over space)

On the other hand, hung lines have a tendency to fall down, get tangled in trees, and start forest fires, so the cost of above ground lines is also high...

Burying those lines is not practical. Inspecting and repairing them is. The problem is significant deferred maintenance. Buried lines cost much more to maintain, in addition to installation costs even where they are feasible. It's better to make sure (1) the towers don't fall down (2) into a forest ready to ignite. That can be done, but we have to pay.

If Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic taught me anything it's that underground power lines are for the capitalist bourgeoisie.

See this is the thing: people complain about the little bit of power being eaten up by drones. But if power companies really cared, they’d bury their powerlines.

They really don’t care. It’s a rounding error.

This is a classic prisoner’s dilemma, and you’re advocating for both sides to hit “betray”.

Perhaps if enough drones did this, they would indeed bury the lines. But that would be strictly worse than a world in which they didn’t bury them, and drones don’t steal electricity regardless.

Alternatively

Who cares? If they don’t want their oil siphoned they need to be burying their pipelines anyway.

Most would agree that unauthorized draws from common infrastructure resulting in loss is theft.

I feel like I would be more sympathetic to this argument if my utility provider wasn’t PG&E.

Theft, yes, how serious? Not very. Basically a rounding error for the power company. They likely see higher loses from things like fence lines installed near power lines.

In which case the earth itself can steal the power, in addition to making your electric bill 500 times higher from the capital cost required to bury millions of miles of transmission network.

I'd assume buried lines would be HVDC rather than AC which effectively eliminates the loses from burying.

Power company can install a mesh or net over lines, to prevent sitting on them, or use another drone to inspect lines and direct a man with a shotgun.