Timely Topics
DECEMBER 2016 Volume 44 Issue 12
A publication of
Woodruff Electric Cooperative Corporation
Here is some technical information about your co-op's electric system The voltage on Woodruff Electric's lines: Approximately 7,620 volts on the primary lines. After the high voltage goes through a transformer, it enters a residence at approximately 120 volts in each wire. Three-phase lines have three wires carrying electricity and one wire serving as the neutral. Single-phase lines have one wire carrying electricity and one neutral wire. There may be wires attached to a pole that are not part of the electric system. Cable television and telephone companies lease positions on our poles to hold up their wires. Their wires are located lower than the electric wires. The electric wires on utility poles are not insulated. Therefore, coming in contact with a high voltage wire will always be hazardous, if not deadly. Transmission lines are mounted on taller poles and sometimes multiple-pole structures. They carry electricity from the generating plant to the electricity distribution system. In Arkansas, you may see transmission lines ranging from the type mounted on single pole structures that carry 69,000 volts to lines on large steel structures that carry 500,000 volts, and several kinds in between. Why does the electric system use such high voltages? It's not man's law, but the law of physics. Raising the voltage reduces resistance in the wires, enabling large amounts of power to be sent through the lines. The voltage is the potential energy in the wire. Amperage is the flow of electrons through the wire. Wattage is the work done as a result of the electron flow at the rate specified by the voltage. Woodruff Electric's high-voltage electric system is protected by fuses and breakers, like home wiring or the wiring in your vehicle. Fuses and breakers provide a way for the electricity to be turned off automatically when something goes wrong.