A recent newspaper article (Guernsey's electricity supply 'most' expensive in May 2012) states that electricity costs will rise and supplies will become unreliable or erratic. It is obvious that this will cause considerable distress and inconvenience to the inhabitants of Guernsey because electricity is required for heating and lighting. The purpose of this essay is to describe how and why electricity has become such an important part of people's lives. By way of background, it is important to state what electricity actually means. According to The Need Project (Electricity: The Mysterious Force), electricity simply means electrons in motion. These electrons are tiny particles present in atoms. An atom is made up of protons and neutrons. Protons and electrons are attracted to each other and carry electric charge. The proton is positively charged while the electron is negatively charged. According to The Electricity Forum: Electricity History 2012, electricity was first found in ancient Greece by Greek philosophers more than two thousand years ago. They found that when amber and fabric are rubbed against each other, there tends to be a form of attraction between the two. They called them the basics of electricity. Furthermore, the article stated that many discoveries related to electricity were made during that period. Furthermore, Kowalski, KM 2009 stated that before the early 1900s the source of light came from candles and oil and gas lamps. However it was very dangerous as it could cause fire explosions. There have been three respectable people who have contributed greatly to the development of electricity in the past. First, Benjamin Franklin. He was an American scientist who established...... half of the document ......ion=2&contentSet=GALE%7CA211235661&&docId=GALE|A211235661&docType=GALE&role=ITOF&docLevel=FULLTEXT on May 24, 2012.Sharman, F and Parker, B. The history of electricity supply in the area. Retrieved from http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/articles/electricity/history1.htm on June 22, 2012. The Electricity Forum: Electricity History. Retrieved from http://www.electricityforum.com/electricity-history.html on May 20, 2012. The Electricity Forum: Dangers of Electricity. Retrieved from http://www.electricityforum.com/dangers-of-electricity.html on May 24, 2012. The Need Project (Electricity: The Mysterious Force) retrieved from http://www.need.org/needpdf/infobook_activities/ IntInfo/Elec1I.pdf on May 20, 2012.Woodford, C. 2011 Electrical Transformers. Retrieved from http://www.explainthatstuff.com/transformers.html on May 22, 2012.