My normal IC2 routine involves building a large central power plant, running cables all over town, and simply letting the machines take what they need and keeping up with demand. On my latest world, I'm constructing individual power sources that suit that building's needs. I'm actually having a lot of fun doing it as it gets me to consider alternate energy sources and look at things like peak and average power consumption. The downside is that I'm wasting a lot of resources building mini power plants that are generally more powerful than the building needs, so excess production is wasted.
So, what style do you prefer and why?