Connecting Pipes and Initial Electric Grid

Okay, what the hell is the issue with connecting "pipes" and electric?

First, I put in a water pump and was entirely unable to get any pipe in my system to snap to it in any way I tried. I had to give up after 20 minutes, bulldoze it and put a new one in down the river which then took me 2 minutes to connect. This is nuts.

Second, the tutorial didn't explain at all how to connect power to your city. I put in a coal plant and I cannot run any wires to it. Nor can I get anything to connect to the (I forget the name) electrical station that processes that power. I run power lines (the first item under the lightning bolt) and they just don't work. None of my buildings have any power.

For what it's worth, I played a ton of CS1 and am quite surprised to have run into this issue.