Discussions

We have a buried hydro line from the hydro pole to the service meter on our house. Is it possible to build a garage over top of that line? I will have to get them to do a locate on the line for safety. Even though I’m not worried about digging up the line because I know that it is at least 5’ down. I called Manitoba Hydro to find out but no one could answer the question. They had me fill out a change of service form. So now I’m in limbo waiting for a response from them.

The inspector will have to make a determination.  
 
Perhaps they could move the main meter socket to the garage, then run the main feed through or around on to the house. You have to get power to the garage anyways.

Sounds expensive

You have to repair a broken line later. Also that line is likely around three feet underground not five. I have been told they are hard to locate if they are deeper then three feet.

I'm assuming you're getting a permit, which you are required to do if you live in the City of Brandon and are building a structure over 100 sq feet. In that case, you will need to provide drawings to the planning department and they will tell you what you need to do. They are very helpful whenever I've had to call them to ask questions during the planning phase of my projects.  
 
To answer your question, I know my neighbour's garage sits partially on top of the medium-tension main that runs at the back of his property. When we did line locates last year for the fence, I asked the hydro guy if that was okay. He told me they prefer not, but it's allowed under certain circumstances, and definately never over the gas main. I didn't get him to elaborate what those "circumstances" are, it might be that the rules changed at one point and they're grandfathered in (the garage is older), plus it goes under the short side of the garage.  
 
In short, it might not be a definite prohibition, but again I would check with the city to see what the building code is. That is ultimately what's going to decide here.

what if you moved the meter to be on the new garage?  
 
at my house we had overhead power moved it to underground -power from hydro comes off pole to a detached garage, 100 amp service in garage and then it feeds into panel of the house which is 200w

When I built my garage 2 years ago I had to move the gas meter and line cause it was going to be partially under the garage and also had to move the hydro which was overhead to the garage as it was attached then require it to be in the closest point to the pole. If yours is detached it may be different. Hydro will be the ones to make the final call though. You need to take to a inspector not office staff though.

Is your garage going to be attached or detached? This will likely affect the answer to your question.

Garage will be detached

It’s 4-5 feet down because it was trenches and then the yard was built up 1-2 feet

No, you cannot build a garage overtop of the hydro line. Your best option is to move meter to garage and re-feed house from there. The other option is to dig line around garage. Either option you are gonna be on the hook for the cost to hydro. Your best bet is to do a service application on hydro website and a planner will contact you. If you need some help with it send me a PM and I can help (I own a electrical company in town).

You can build on top of the Hydro line. I'm guessing if the line is coming from the pole to your house that it is on your property. The only concern would be if in the future you have to replace the Hydro cable...in that case I would put in a conduit under the garage floor which will give you future access if needed. Cap both ends and create a drawing on how far the conduit extends past the concrete on each end.