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At the user's end, if the neutral conductor is not earthed, there will be no return path for current, and hence no danger to human life. Doesn't this outweigh any benefits of earthing?

terahertz
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    There's other factors at play. For example, you don't want the grid to collect a bunch of stray charge over a wide area and rise far above earth. That's dangerous too. – DKNguyen Jul 13 '21 at 14:39
  • There's a lot of wire, what if some of it comes into contact with a water pipe by accident? – user253751 Jul 13 '21 at 14:53
  • https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/209261/why-bother-referencing-neutral-to-ground-in-residential-transformer – brhans Jul 13 '21 at 15:26
  • [Is ground connection in home electrical system really necessary?](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/534038/is-ground-connection-in-home-electrical-system-really-necessary/534042#534042). – Andy aka Jul 13 '21 at 15:47

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If the "neutral" is not earthed then it hasn't been neutralised and it can't be called a neutral anymore. You will have created a floating AC power system.

This will be OK until the first ground fault at which point the other conductor becomes live. As a result you will also have to fuse both conductors rather than just the live in an L-N system.

Transistor
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    You've already given a much more detailed answer [here](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/384087/why-is-neutral-wire-connected-to-ground-at-the-transformer) – brhans Jul 13 '21 at 15:29
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    Thanks, @brhans. There's another of mine [here](https://electronics.stackexchange.com/a/311498/73158). – Transistor Jul 13 '21 at 17:11