European sockets provide electric current at 230 volts. Since, this voltage do not suffice to cover the large distance from the power plant to our homes, it is raised in the power plants with the help of transformers up to 380,000 volts. Locally, large substations or small ‘transformer houses’ transform the voltage to 230 volts. A transformer is like an electromagnet. The incoming high-voltage electric current generates a magnetic field in the coil. This permeates the neighbouring coil in the second electric circuit and generates a lower voltage: 230 volt.