Search
Energy & Safety

Our Electric Delivery System

 

No matter where the electricity comes from, O&R remains the delivery company that gets the electricity to customers' homes and businesses, maintains the distribution and transmission system and restores power after service interruptions.

O&R's electric delivery system serves over 285,000 customers with approximately 170,000 overhead services, 15,000 miles of overhead conductor attached to nearly 180,000 poles and almost 1,000 towers.

O&R also maintains an underground delivery system that consists of over 1,300 miles of conductor and almost 44,000 services.

Illustration of electric delivery system

O&R's electric system is typical of others throughout the nation. The electricity is produced at a (1) generating station. The electricity is directed out of the generating station at a very high voltage to (2) transmission lines designed to transport bulk electricity over long distances to areas of our service territory where it is then channeled through one of O&R's 76 (3) substations.

There, the voltage is reduced to a level low enough to run through the (4) distribution lines along the streets. Many of the poles in that distribution system carry equipment near the top that resemble metal drums. Those are (5) transformers that further reduce the voltage of the distribution current to a lower voltage suitable for powering household or commercial equipment and appliances before it enters your home or business.