AbstractThe current through the residential grounding circuit is an important source for magnetic fields; field variations near the grounding circuit accurately track fluctuations in this ground current. In this paper, a model is presented which permits calculation of the range of these fluctuations. A discrete network model is used to simulate a local distribution system for a single street, and a statistical model to simulate unbalanced currents in the system. Simulations of three‐house and ten‐house networks show that random appliance operation leads to ground current fluctuations which can be quite large, on the order of 600%. This is consistent with measured fluctuations in an actual house. © 1994 Wiley‐Lis