Pathway of Power: Distribution System

Once voltage has been lowered at the substation, the electricity is ready to be transported to homes and businesses through a distribution system.The distribution system is made up of poles and wire you see in neighborhoods. Conductors called feeders reach out in all directions from the substation carrying electricity to our consumers. At key locations along the distribution system, voltage is lowered by distribution transformers to the level needed by consumers (see diagram #5).

Reclosers are located throughout the distribution system to prevent a permanent outage due to a temporary fault (see diagram #6).

Reclosers function as circuit breakers isolating permanent faults from the rest of the circuit. A recloser will automatically restore the circuit when power is lost due to a temporary fault. If an outage occurs, reclosers will localize the fault in order to minimize the number of consumers affected. Devices called regulators maintain the voltage depending on consumer demand for electricity (see diagram #7).

Capacitors, which are found in substations and on poles, momentarily store electricity to help control and improve voltage regulation (see diagram #8).

Lines on the high voltage side of the distribution transformer are called primaries, and those on the low-voltage side of the transformer are called secondaries. Secondary lines tie to the transformer and run from pole to pole. The consumer's service drop runs from the secondary line or transformer to our consumer's meter.