Re-orient your thinking a little and it will make sense. We're talking AC systems (not a SWER) so it is a closed-loop as far as the electricity is concerned. The electricity doesn't go anywhere, it constantly oscillates. What you are actually generating in a meta sense is ability to do work. You are overcoming the electrical resistance from all those users' machines doing work.
I understand the closed loop. I did a bit of research when I wrote my last comment and when I read that line is when I realized how dumb I was.
So.. electricity gets pumped into the grid from some power station, and then [a given unit of electricity] loops repeatedly around the loop until it's either consumed by an appliance or is converted to heat by the resistance inherent to the transmission lines themselves?
Re-orient your thinking a little and it will make sense. We're talking AC systems (not a SWER) so it is a closed-loop as far as the electricity is concerned. The electricity doesn't go anywhere, it constantly oscillates. What you are actually generating in a meta sense is ability to do work. You are overcoming the electrical resistance from all those users' machines doing work.
Does that analogy help?