This is true but on a much larger scale than the city. For example, the United States has only three electrical grids (East, West, and Texas). Within those areas, not only are all electricity users in some sense connected, they are all /synchronous/, meaning that the 60hz coming out of your wall peaks and troughs at the same exact time as the 60hz at your cousin's house two states away.
The grids also have interconnections with one another, but they happen via DC to avoid needing to synchronize the whole continent.
In a literal sense, modernity is about using energy to coordinate human activity across vast distances at minute time scales. We normally think about this in terms of transportation, telegraphy, telephony, print, broadcasting, and the internet but it's also true of the motors in our washing machines and factories.
The grids also have interconnections with one another, but they happen via DC to avoid needing to synchronize the whole continent.
In a literal sense, modernity is about using energy to coordinate human activity across vast distances at minute time scales. We normally think about this in terms of transportation, telegraphy, telephony, print, broadcasting, and the internet but it's also true of the motors in our washing machines and factories.