By Maura Giles
Electricity plays an essential role in everyday life.
It powers our homes, offices, hospitals, and schools. We depend on it to keep us warm in the winter (and cool in the summer), charge our phones, and binge our favorite TV shows. If the power goes out, even briefly, our lives can be disrupted.
The system that delivers your electricity is often described as the most complex machine in the world. It’s known as the electric grid.
What makes it so complex? We all use different amounts of electricity throughout the day, so the supply and demand for electricity are constantly changing. For example, we typically use more electricity in the mornings when we’re starting our day, and in the evenings when we’re cooking dinner and using appliances. Severe weather and other factors also impact how much electricity we need.
The challenge for electric providers is to plan for, produce, and purchase enough electricity so it’s available exactly when we need it. Too much or too little electricity in one place can cause problems. So, to make sure the whole system stays balanced, the electric grid must adjust in real-time to changes and unforeseen events.
At its core, the electric grid is a network of power lines, transformers, substations, and other infrastructure that span the entire country. But it’s not just a singular system. It’s divided into 3 major interconnected grids: the Eastern Interconnection, the Western Interconnection, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. These grids operate independently but are linked to allow electricity to be transferred between regions when backup support is required.
Within the 3 regions, 7 balancing authorities known as independent system operators or regional transmission organizations monitor the grid, signaling to power plants when more electricity is needed to maintain a balanced electrical flow. ISOs and RTOs are like traffic controllers for electricity.
The journey of electricity begins at power plants.
Power plants can be thought of as factories that make electricity using various energy sources, like natural gas, solar, wind, and nuclear energy. Across the U.S., more than 11,000 power plants deliver electricity to the grid.
Lassen Municipal Utility District buys power from Western Area Power Administration, a government agency that generates, sells, and schedules power for more than 680 customers, including cities, towns, rural electric cooperatives, public utilities, and irrigation districts. To deliver the power LMUD buys, the district uses transmission lines owned and operated by Pacific Gas and Electric. The cost to use these lines is referred to as wheeling charges. LMUD also pays a fee to the California Independent System Operator. These costs add to the price LMUD pays for power, so employees work closely with WAPA to provide electricity at the lowest cost possible.
To get the electricity from power plants to you, we need a transportation system.
High-voltage transmission lines act as the highways for electricity, transporting power over long distances. These lines are supported by massive towers and travel through vast landscapes, connecting power plants to electric substations.
Substations are like pit stops along the highway, where the voltage of electricity is adjusted. They play a crucial role in managing power flow and ensuring that electricity is safe for use in homes and businesses.
Once the electricity is reduced to the proper voltage, it travels through distribution power lines, like the ones you typically see on the side of the road. Distribution lines carry electricity from substations to homes, schools, and businesses. Distribution transformers, which look like metal buckets on the tops of power poles or large green boxes on the ground, further reduce the voltage to levels suitable for household appliances and electronic devices.
After traveling through transformers, electricity reaches you — to power everyday life.
We’re proud to be your local, trusted energy provider. From the time it’s created to the time it’s used, electricity travels great distances to be available at the flip of a switch. That’s what makes the electric grid our nation’s most complex machine—and one of our nation’s greatest achievements.
Critical Connections: How Electricity Gets to You
The electric grid is considered one of the most complex machines in the world, delivering the electricity we need for everyday life.
Step 1 - Generation
Power plants generate electricity using a variety of energy sources, such as solar, natural gas, nuclear and wind energy.
Step 2 - Step-Up Transformer
A step-up transformer increases the voltage to push the electricity over long distances.
Step 3 - Transmission Lines
High-voltage electricity travels over long distances through these lines.
Step 4 - Transmission Substation
Voltage is lowered at a transmission substation so electricity can travel across the local distribution system.
Step 5 - Distribution Substation
These substations lower the voltage again so the electricity is ready to travel on distribution lines.
Step 6 - Distribution Lines
Lower-voltage electricity travels through distribution lines, like the ones you typically see on the side of the road.
Step 7 - Final Stop
A transformer located on the ground or a utility pole reduces the voltage a nal time, then electricity is sent inside your home, school or business.