This paper investigates the transient characteristics of grounding systems used in under-ground distribution power cables. Recently, two kinds of grounding system are used for underground distribution cables in Korea. The first one is conventional multi-point grounding system, the other is newly proposed non-bundled common grounding system. The non-bundled common grounding system has an advantage the decreasing the power loss due to decrease of the shield circulation current. In this paper, the lightning overvoltage induced in neutral wire (in case of non-bundled common grounding system, overvoltage between opened neural wires and grounding in each phase) of these two kinds of grounding systems are estimated and compared by field tests and EMTP simulations. The EMTP simulation methods are firstly verified by comparison of measurement and simulation. Finally, the insulation level against lightning is expected by EMTP simulation results using verified model.