the substation is part of a distributed system which powers the factories that make the truck you likely drive over your (unimproved) roads, not to mention the tractor you say you would use to make another one. it also powers the hospital where you'll end up after an accident or serious illness. it probably powers the building where government functions to act as a counter-weight to the behavior of selfish or ignorant individuals and corporations, because good luck with using your tractor to deal with a large company that decides to pollute your nearest river. they couldn't do that if there was no government (the cry of the pure libertarian)? just look back in history and around the world - this is delusional: there are always power imbalances and there are always people who left unchecked will be bad actors within communities of various sizes.
government is above all a solution to the problem of coordination. if you seriously believe that your life doesn't require solving any coordination problems that couldn't be dealt with using the neighborhood (physical) bulletin board, then i don't see how you're reading HN.
p.s. I live in an very rural part of New Mexico.