Since the beginning of the electric utility industry a primary concern was line losses. It was soon discovered that transformer core losses had a lot to do with such reduced efficiency and wasted energy and dollars. Small, individual transformers were often serving one or two customers in residential areas; many with their own transformer. By 1900 larger capacity transformers became available by manufacturers. This enabled utilities to connect several or more customers to a single unit, thereby reducing the large losses that would otherwise be incurred by using several smaller transformers. In this photo we see three small distribution transformers clustered onto the same pole. Typically primary voltage was 1,100 or 2,200 v with second distribution to consumers at 100-110 volts in the early days like we see here.