I still have a telephone post which carries other utilities in my front yard. It's over 60 years old and the power lines have been switch to a newer Pole which carries the power. 

The old pole will be removed when all the other utilities are gone from the pole. So it's been very expensive to maintain these poles over the 70 years of their lifetime. 

The pole in my yard has been epoxied for termite intrusion. I doubt that any other locality in the country has as much problem with Asian ground termites as does Hawaii. 

The only thing more costly in Hawaii is installing and maintaining underground power lines. And I've noticed that all the new long-term power poles installed are made out of steel. 

Of course it's more expensive to be a Power Company in Hawaii. Their costs are mainly listed as replacing and maintaining a wooden pole structure. These were installed when metal poles were much much costlier.

 I'll bet today that these are cheaper steel poles from Asia.