Yeah, I thought of a similar thing, but different enough. Instead of having a substation entity, you have a "water way" and a "cabled water way". Whereas the "water way" is free, the "cabled water way" would take come copper cables. Electricity flows and can be branched off these water ways w/ a "water-way-to-ground" pole (which is a glorified electric pole that can connect to "cabled water way" and the normal electric grid.