<P> The California Electric Company (now PG&E) in San Francisco in 1879 used two direct current generators from Charles Brush's company to supply multiple customers with power for their arc lamps . This San Francisco system was the first case of a utility selling electricity from a central plant to multiple customers via transmission lines . CEC soon opened a second plant with 4 additional generators . Service charges for light from sundown to midnight was $10 per lamp per week . </P> <P> In December 1880, Brush Electric Company set up a central station to supply a 2 - mile (3.2 km) length of Broadway with arc lighting . By the end of 1881, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Montreal, Buffalo, San Francisco, Cleveland and other cities had Brush arc lamp systems, producing public light well into the 20th century . By 1893 there were 1500 arc lamps illuminating New York streets . </P> <P> Extremely bright arc lights were too bright, and with the high voltages and sparking / fire hazard, too dangerous to use indoors . In 1878 inventor Thomas Edison saw a market for a system that could bring electric lighting directly into a customer's business or home, a niche not served by arc lighting systems . After devising a commercially viable incandescent light bulb in 1879, Edison went on to develop the first large scale investor - owned electric illumination "utility" in lower Manhattan, eventually serving one square mile with 6 "jumbo dynamos" housed at Pearl Street Station . When service began in September 1882, there were 85 customers with 400 light bulbs . Each dynamo produced 100 kW2--enough for 1200 incandescent lights, and transmission was at 110 V via underground conduits . The system cost $300,000 to build with installation of the 100,000 feet (30,000 m) of underground conduits one of the most expensive parts of the project . Operating expenses exceeded income in the first two years and fire destroyed the plant in 1890 . Further, Edison had a three wire system so that either 110 V or 220 V could be supplied to power some motors . </P> <P> Availability of large amounts of power from diverse locations would become possible after Charles Parsons' production of turbogenerators beginning 1889 . Turbogenerator output quickly jumped from 100 kW to 25 megawatts in two decades . Prior to efficient turbogenerators, hydroelectric projects were a significant source of large amounts of power requiring transmission infrastructure . </P>

When was electricity first used in homes in the us