John Walker lives at the corner of Plantation Rd and Manuka Cres, in an older part of town.
About 30 different wires and quite a few power poles are visible from his deck, spoiling the view of the lake and mountains.
While Mr Walker did not believe the number of poles had increased recently, several had been upgraded to carry more wires.
"Constantly, we seem to be having to look at an increasing number of lines through established areas to service the new areas, where they put them underground.
"So there just doesn't seem to be consistency with practice.''
He believed the Queenstown Lakes District Council once had a policy to progressively put lines underground, but it "seems to have been lost somewhere along the line''.
He had made a submission to the district plan review and planned to ask, at one of the hearings, for the policy to be reinstated.
His submission had drawn a chorus of objections from telecommunications companies but no response from electricity lines companies.
In a joint "further submission'', Spark, Chorus and Vodafone say: "It is not appropriate for the district plan to require progressive undergrounding of existing lawfully established infrastructure that may have substantial economic implications and may not always be technically or operationally feasible.''
Mr Walker said the council had many policies about protecting outstanding natural landscapes but lines companies appeared to be able to do as they pleased.
"They don't seem to have to compromise by balancing the profit they make against the effect they are having on the landscape.''
He acknowledged telephone lines passing his property were underground.
Last week, Mayor Vanessa van Uden suggested it might be time for the council to reinstate a "forgotten fund'' used to put power lines underground - the cost shared 50:50 between ratepayers and lines companies.
She was responding to questions about the likely fate of 29 trees beneath power lines along the Ladies Mile entrance to Queenstown.
