HOT AIR BALLOON INTO THE WIRES.

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BROKEN CLOUDS AND SCATTERED RAIN SHOWERS IN A.M. AND EARLY AFTERNOON. HIGH PRESSURE MOVED INTO AREA LATE AFTERNOON; WHICH CLRED OUT ALL CLOUDS. SKY WAS 90 PERCENT CLR WITH DISSIPATING CLOUDS IN OTHER 10 PERCENT. WX WAS CHKED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES--FSS; TV STATIONS; AND LCL OBSERVATION. DECISION WAS MADE TO FLY BASED ON ALL WX RPTS. WINDS WERE LIGHT AND VARIABLE UNTIL 2000 FT AGL AND THEN 5 KTS FROM W. THE FLT WAS UNEVENTFUL. AFTER 45-50 MINS I LOOKED FOR A PLACE TO LAND. THE WAY THE WIND WERE; I WOULD HAVE HAD TO STAY HIGH AND FLY PAST THE LNDG SITE; BECAUSE DOWN LOW MY TRACK WOULD BE TO THE N OR NW. I MADE A SLOW DSCNT FROM 2000 FT AGL AND WAS IN CALM AIR WITH NO TRACK. THERE WAS A LNDG FIELD BELOW ME--SO OK. AT 100 FT AGL I STARTED TO MOVE E AND MISSED MY LNDG FIELD. I HEARD ON THE RADIO THE WINDS HAD PICKED UP FROM THE OTHER BALLOONISTS. MY BALLOON STARTED MOVING SE AT 10 KTS. THERE WAS A SMALL TREE-COVERED HILL I WAS GOING TO FLY OVER AND LAND ON THE OTHER SIDE. I STARTED TO BURN BOTH BURNERS; BUT I COULD ONLY CLB VERY SLOWLY. HALF WAY OVER THE HILL I GOT INTO A STRONG DOWNDRAFT. I WAS CONTINUOUSLY BURNING FROM 500-600 AGL TO THE GND. I COULD NOT STOP MY DSCNT. I MADE A SOFT LNDG IN AN OPENING. HOWEVER; PART OF THE BALLOON ENVELOPE (TOP 1/3) WENT OVER PWR LINES. PAX WERE NOT HURT; THE ENVELOPE WAS NOT DAMAGED; BUT THE ELECTRICAL PWR LINE BREAKERS WERE TRIPPED. I LATER FOUND OUT THERE MIGHT HAVE BEEN DISSIPATING CLOUD 30 PLUS MI N OF US. (I DID NOT SEE THAT CLOUD DURING THE FLT.) PERHAPS THIS CAUSED THE DOWNDRAFT. NOTHING WAS ON RADAR; AND OUR CHIEF PLT WAS IN CONTACT WITH ME AND THE WX SVC THROUGHOUT THE FLT. ANOTHER BALLOON PLT ALSO EXPERIENCED A DOWNDRAFT ABOUT 3/4 MI N OF ME AND MADE A HARD LNDG. THERE WERE NO WARNINGS.