I was worried about his too. We live directly across the road from a large substation, and have large major power lines running directly though the suburb. We have had people come out and test it numerous times (usually when a new neighbour moves in and realises how loud it actually 'humms' at night-time). Each time the levels come back as more then 'safe'. As for the lightglobe trick, if you actually stood in the substation it would probably light up, but it will not do so at all out of the fenced off area, nor directly under the lines running through the suburb. I am not as concerned about it now (having lived here for three years and actually talked with the experts). If I could afford it I would prefer to live somewhere without powerlines (certainly without a huge noisy substation across the road), just to be on the safe side; but I don't believe that the risk is anywhere as high as some of the stuff on the internet suggests. Remember that alot of the studies done have been in other countries with different allowable levels of emmissions etc.

It is also worth noting that most people in capital cities will live in or around sub-stations or power lines, most people just do not realise how close they actually are to their homes.

The problem is I don't think anyone can really give you any difinitive answer on this at all. There will always be a large group of people who will just flatly refuse to believe it can be safe, no matter what evidence is provided. And there is not enough evidence to say it definitely is safe. We just do not know. Just as we are still unaware of the effects of using mobile phones longterm.