In any home rule charter city of the fourth class the governing body may erect poles and string wires and cables thereon within the corporate limits of such city and install in connection therewith equipment as may be necessary to light the streets of the city and furnish electrical current to its inhabitants; and it may connect such a system of poles, wires and cables with a public or private electric light and power plant outside the city, by erecting poles along any public highway and extending from such city to such electric light and power plant, subject to the provisions of law relating to the use of public highways by light and power companies and string along such poles, wires and cables for the transmission of electrical current from such plant to the system of poles, wires and cables erected in such city; and the governing body may contract on behalf of the city and its inhabitants for furnishing electrical current and power and may prescribe the rates to be charged for such current and power.