Electricity 101

Electricity 101: Distributing power to neighborhoods like yours

Welcome back to Electricity 101. Our discussion of how electricity is created and ultimately delivered to your home continues today with a look at the role of distribution lines. 

A couple episodes back, we talked about transmission lines. They are which are very high voltage lines designed to carry electricity long distances.  

Distribution lines carry electricity a shorter distance, distributing it through neighborhoods. Before it’s sent out into neighborhoods, the electricity goes through another substation. There, the electricity’s voltage is decreased, or stepped down, to be put to use in homes and businesses. 

So, do these lines feed directly into your home? 

Nope, there’s another step before that happens. Whether the distribution lines are overhead or underground, they carry electricity to another transformer. That transformer, either on a power pole or in a green box in a yard, adjusts voltage one more time.  

For a deeper dive on substation transformers and how they’re used to both increase and decrease voltage, take a spin through this story on The Wire.

And check out this week’s video, below, for more information on distribution lines and their role in powering your life. Then come back next week, when we’ll talk about the final voltage adjustment before electricity enters your home.