Bud, until recently I would have agreed with you. But, whomever wrote this web page obviously knows something about electric power generation and distribution and seems to disagree:

http://www.science.smith.edu/~jcarde...ecPwr_HSW.html

Look at the bottom paragraph in the section entitled "The Power Plant: Three Phase Power" where it says:


And what about this "ground," as mentioned above? The power company essentially uses the earth as one of the wires in the power system. The earth is a pretty good conductor and it is huge, so it makes a good return path for electrons. (Car manufacturers do something similar; they use the metal body of the car as one of the wires in the car's electrical system and attach the negative pole of the battery to the car's body.) "Ground" in the power distribution grid is literally "the ground" that's all around you when you are walking outside. It is the dirt, rocks, groundwater, etc., of the earth.


I don't think he could have said it any clearer.