How Texas Electricity Gets From a Power Plant Into Your Home

From the discovery of static electricity by Thales of Miletus in Ancient Greece to the invention of the first electrostatic generator thousands of years later by Otto von Guericke, power as intrigued many a scientist. How does something produce energy, static electricity or electricity itself? Such notables as Ben Franklin, George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison discovered many points about electricity in the 18th and 19th century. It was through this cumulative work by these and many others that our modern idea of electricity was formed.

We see it every day in our homes and workplaces, but how does the electricity get from the power plant to your home? Texas Electricity is delivered to homes through what is referred to as a grid. This is a network of transmission and distribution lines that are either above or below ground. When traveling along the grid, the lines hold a tremendous amount of high voltage. These lines carry the power from the plant to the substation to your home. In different parts of the world you may see the power lines on wooden poles, on metal towers and through transformers that can sometimes just look like a simple white box on a pole. The State Regulatory Commission, or in Texas ERCOT is in charge of transmission costs to the customer.

At your home you will have a meter where the kilowatts are measured and read to dictate what your consumption has been. This is the point of entry from the power lines into your home. A Texas utility company, a Texas power company, a municipality or maybe even a co-op distributes electricity. The original point that your Texas electricity comes from can vary. Companies may own and operate their own power plants within their grid. Companies are known to buy, sell and trade electricity with each other, especially during peak seasons or catastrophes like blackouts. Rolling Blackouts occur when power consumption outweighs power distribution. So as not to overburden the grid, some governments or companies will produce mandatory blackouts while switching power from one portion of the grid to the other to ensure reliable delivery organizations have been formed over the years. Some of these include Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission deemed these types of firms necessary for the preservation of the grid in the United States. This has been determined to be one of the best ways to keep a handle on the grid so that all consumers of power can have the electricity they need when they need it. It helps regulate the use of the power plants with its customers to assure proper delivery to your home.

There are many types of power plants that deliver electricity. Coal produces over 50% of the electricity in the U.S. followed by nuclear power at 20%, natural gas at 17%, hydroelectric 7%, and renewables at 3%. Each type of plant has its own group of advocates promoting their favorite materials for generation. Fossil Fuel plants operate with coal, natural gas and refined oil products. Each of these fuels are burned within the plant to facilitate the boilers and gears into producing electricity for the public. Nuclear energy will use radioactive material such as uranium or plutonium to heat the core of their generator which produces the electricity. Renewable energy is produce by use of power supplies that are virtually inexhaustible such as solar power, biomass, geothermal and wind power. There are more and more power plants worldwide trying to change over to this last option. The green energy (renewable) will outlast the fossil fuels by tens of thousands of years and there are many rebate programs available to the consumer when installing this type of power into your home for huge savings on your bills.

Climate and delivery system and costs will be the determining factors on the price to the consumer. The cost will also be determinate on what you are powering in your home. Air conditioning usually takes up 16% of your bill while the refrigerator is 14%, heating 9-10%, lighting 9% and appliances 3-5%.

The next time you travel down a Texas road, check to see if you can visually follow with the Texas electricity as it goes from power plant to transformer to towers to transformers and distribution lines from wooden poles to the meter in your home. Observe for yourself how Texas electricity gets from the power plant to your home.