So let's say this is 10% efficient, that means 50W per citizen. Clearly, there is something I'm not getting. Do power companies really budget 50W per user? I mean it's possible but that seems very low to me.
Principle household uses would have been lighting and refrigeration, possibly a few clocks, a radio, and perhaps appliances.
Averaged over a day, draw per person could well have been only a few tens of watts. 50W per person for a household of four would be about 150 kWh per month, which sounds roughly reasonable.
The 2018 US average was 914 kWh/mo:
https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3
In 1930, direct electrical use was only 1% of total household energy consumption. Coal was 69%, fuelwood still 23%. Expressed as kWh/mo (the source below has graphs giving nationwide trillions of BTU/yr electrical equivalent) the number looks closer to 80 kWh/mo, or 110 watt constant, about 28 watt/person assuming a family of four.
https://aceee.org/files/proceedings/1992/data/papers/SS92_Pa...