Wow...
Allow me to add to your Q...
The way I understand it is that if every house has copper lines between them, and every service is bonded to the lines, then the parellel path cannot be avoided... In fact, good workmanship with strong continuity on the water lines will actually allow more current to flow... They will divide the current between them in inverse proportion to their resistances, so a good connection on the water lines is going hand in hand with the poor connection on the neutral, and a bad neutral isn't always the case either... What's the resistance of 3/4" Copper Pipe per 100 foot or so? How can one relate this resistance to divide the load?
(Psst: Pauluk or Scott35 listening here?)
I figure if ya got current on your grounding electrode conductors, it could be 'cause ya got a really good ground. So, is it a bad thing?
