What initiated the change into ac system from dc system?
The need for more and more power. In a fixed voltage system like
DC, power is proportional to current, and current is related to
conductor size. In order to have more power, you had to have larger
conductors, and it was becoming unwieldy.
With AC, we could use transformers to step up the voltage. Power
is now proportional to both current and voltage, but current is
still only related to conductor size, which means that with higher
voltage, you could transfer more power with smaller conductors.
Transformers would step up the voltage at the substation for
transmission and distribution, while transformers on the poles
would step it back down for small groups of services.