Depends whether you're talking to Edison or Tesla. Tesla believed that electric power lines were unnecessary and would have rather "beamed" electricity to the masses. That's what the Tower was for, and what Tesla was demonstrating in that scene. We know now that such a thing could easily be done with microwaves, and some people have even suggested beaming electricity directly from solar panels in space. Every radio signal, in fact, contains a "carrier wave" of pure electric power to extend its transmission radius. Build the right kind of collector, and you could probably run your home on just the ambient electricity in the air these days. (If you don't mind extremely angry neighbors, as such a thing would probably interfere with every TV in the neighborhood) In the end, it's probably better that we didn't go with "broadcast" electric transmission. I saw a report once that suggested that two thirds of those who have reported alien abductions also live near high tension power lines. And we've all heard about cellphones frying brain cells.....
To answer the question you are probably actually asking, I'd think that in this game it could be either, as Tesla has a significant presence in the Steampunk world.
