In the US, usually neutral is connected to the center tap of the transformer on the street, literally hooked to the middle of the winding. It is brought to grou

In the US, usually neutral is connected to the center tap of the transformer on the street, literally hooked to the middle of the winding. It is brought to ground level by hooking it up to the ground at the house, but the signal/power goes back to the transformer because the resistance is far lower than going through ground. That's why you have two power rails in the breaker box, the two hot wires coming in are 220v apart, the neutral is in the middle making for a pair of 110v rails at 180degree phase angle apart. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_tap https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_tap