All About Power: Distribution, Generation & Transmission

A brief study in how power gets to you!

Distribution involves the lines leaving our substation in various routes (circuits) across the system and, eventually, to your meter.

Hudson Light’s service territory is 30 square miles and consists of 158 miles of overhead lines and 56 miles of underground lines. We serve all of Hudson and Stow and parts of surrounding areas.

Constant maintenance of the lines and our Vegetation Management Program helps

reduce the number of outages. Distribution ends at your meter, which records your

electric consumption.

Generation is where it all begins – the source of electric power. Hudson Light has its own generating facility in Hudson. We also have power contracts with generating facilities and purchase power on the open market.

According to a study by the Analysis Group entitled “Fuel Mix and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Municipal Electric Light Plants in Massachusetts,” MLPs are leading the State and the New England region in reducing carbon emissions in their power portfolio.

Hudson Light and Power is proud to provide an energy portfolio that is greater than 90% greenhouse-gas free. Following is our current 2019 Carbon Footprint:

Transmission involve the high lines that bring electricity from outside sources to our substation, where it is “stepped down” to a level that can be used by local homes and businesses.

Hudson Light is currently fed by two transmission lines. A third proposed Eversource line may also feed into Hudson, enhancing reliability and helping reduce costs. For more information on the proposed line, see the Light Board’s position paper.