Back in the 1970s when we were living in one of the suburbs north of Pittsburgh, PA Penn Power eventually put up a concrete wall on 1 side of a substation to shield adjacent houses from the hum of the transformers.

Given that transformers are more efficient and compact than they were even 40 years ago the power company might actually save themselves a bunch of money by building a whole new substation. There is also the matter that you can expect 50 or more year old electrical equipment to explode.

For that matter, a new substation is a chance to do a transmission voltage raise as well as a distribution voltage raise. In Brunswick, Ohio Ohio Edison replaced the old 69KV primary 7,200Y12,470 volt substation with a newer and bigger 138KV primary station across the street. There has been a request on file with the Ohio Power Facilities Siting Commission to do the same thing in Streetsboro, Ohio which is presently served by TWO 69KV primary substations that are a short distance apart. One of them is so heavily taxed that the cooling fans are on 24/7 year round and is right next to a right of way that has spare space for 138KV line. They also installed a 138KV to 69KV transmission station just about 2 blocks away to help serve the 69KV lines in a nearby industrial park.

All told, this utility can solve a lot of problems by building some new facilities. The main problem is how many houses they have to condemn and buy which could be unpopular but then a lot of real estate snots have no idea that there are wires and water pipes in the walls. The electricity needs wires to get to the load as well as substations and other equipment.