History of
Electric Power Companies
in Nova Scotia



The full, official, legal name of each company is given, except perhaps in a few cases where the legal name is not yet nailed down. This list is known to be incomplete (I'm working on it).

Where it appears below, "NSL" refers to the Nova Scotia Legislature.
Unless otherwise stated, "Act" means an Act of the Nova Scotia Legislature.




Privately-Owned Electric Companies
(All non-government organizations)





Acadia Coal Company

NSL 1883 chapter   64 — Act to incorporate the Acadia Coal Co.
NSL 1898 chapter 165 — Amendment, relating to electric power





Acadia Electric Light Company Limited
Nova Scotia: Acadia Electric Light Company, 1904
The Wolfville Acadian, 8 April 1904

$10 REWARD
As we are under considerable expense in repairing street lights
that are maliciously broken, we offer the above reward for
information that will lead to the conviction of the guilty parties.
Offenders will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Acadia Electric Light Co.


The Acadia EL Co. reported that, during the year 1912, its operating revenue was $7,168.55 and operating expenses were $5,362.64, and it paid out $1,600.00 in dividends.
Source: PUB Annual Report 1912-13


By 1917, the steam-driven electric generating plant of the Acadia Electric Light Company in Wolfville was 26 years old. Its maximum output was 55 kilowatts, the service operated only seven hours out of twenty-four, and, according to an ancient townsman (who was interviewed by Harry Bruce in the mid-1970s) "You could hardly see the light bulbs even when you turned them on," (translation: the voltage was well below the proper level — which meant that the generating plant was overloaded, or the distribution circuits were inadequate, or both).

The Wolfville Board of Trade (whose secretary, incidentally, was George C. Nowlan, a federal cabinet minister forty years later) decided somebody had to do something about the electricity supply in Wolfville. It asked two of the sharpest young businessmen around town to investigate the Gaspereau River as a power source.

They were Charles H. Wright, a capable and popular building contractor, and Roy A. Jodrey, farmer, apple speculator, and fair-haired boy of the W.H. Chase organization. L.E. Shaw, a brick manufacturer who was also president of the Wolfville Board of Trade, wrote many years later that Jodrey and Wright "never came back to report. They found more than we had anticipated."

They found a waterfall, formed a company (Gaspereaux River Light, Heat & Power Company), built a dam, installed a powerhouse, and built electric transmission lines out across the Annapolis Valley. Wright and Jodrey's hydroelectric generating plant at Stivers Falls, White Rock, Kings County, began to operate on February 25, 1920. By May 1920, it was producing electric power for Wolfville, Greenwich, and Port Williams...
Source:   Excerpted from pages 114 and 119, The Story of R.A. Jodrey, Entrepreneur (book), by Harry Bruce, McClelland and Stewart, 1979




Amherst Electric Light & Water Company Limited

NSL 1887 chapter 94 — Act to incorporate the Amherst Electric Light & Water Co. Ltd.





Antigonish Electric Company Limited




Associated Gas & Electric Company

In the 1920s, the Associated Gas & Electric Company of New York was busily buying Nova Scotia utilities.
Source:   Page 137, The Story of R.A. Jodrey, Entrepreneur (book), by Harry Bruce, McClelland and Stewart, 1979

Associated Gas and Electric Company share certificate 1929
Associated Gas & Electric Company share certificate, 1929

The Associated Gas & Electric Co. was broken up in the mid-1930s, under the U.S. Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, which provided for the regulation of utility holding companies by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Death Sentence Clause

Title I of the Public Utility Act of 1935 is known as the Public Utilities Holding Company Act of 1935 (PUHCA). PUHCA was enacted to eliminate unfair practices and other abuses by electricity and gas holding companies by requiring federal control and regulation of interstate public utility holding companies. A regulatory bargain was created between utilities and the government. In exchange for an exclusive service territory, utilities are required to provide reliable electric service to all customers at a regulated rate. A holding company under PUHCA is an enterprise that directly or indirectly owns 10% or more of stock in a public utility company. To eliminate the complex and confusing structure of holding companies that had made them almost impossible to regulate, Section 11b of Title I (the "Death Sentence Clause") of PUHCA abolishes all holding companies that were more than twice removed from their operating subsidiaries. All electric and natural gas holding companies are required to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Under PUHCA, the SEC regulates mergers and diversification proposals of holding companies whose subsidiaries engage in retail electricity or natural gas distribution. In addition, PUHCA requires that before purchasing securities or property from another company, a holding company must file for approval with the SEC.




Atlantic Power & Development Company Limited

NSL 1916 chapter 96 — Act to incorporate the Atlantic Power & Development Co. Ltd.





Avon River Power Company Limited

NSL 1923 chapter 121 — Act respecting the Avon River Power Co. Ltd.

In 1921, the Avon River Power Company was incorporated by Roy Jodrey and Charles Wright. The company had its head office in Windsor.

The Avon River Power Co. bought the Windsor Electric Light & Power Co. in November 1925, and the Gaspereaux River Light, Heat & Power Co. in 1926.

In April 1929, the Nova Scotia Light & Power Co. bought Avon River Power Co. and thereafter operated it as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

During 1931, the Avon River Power Co. bought six small electric utilities:
      Centreville Electric Light & Power Company,
      Gaspereaux Valley Electric Light Company,
      Lower Horton Electric Company,
      Kingston Electric Light Commission,
      the Town of Middleton's electric power system, and
      Sheffield Mills Light & Power Company.

In August 1941, the Avon River Power Co. bought the electric power distribution system owned and operated by the Canning Water Commissioners.




Barrington Electric Company Limited
Shelburne County

NSL 1919 chapter 139 — Act to incorporate the Barrington Electric Co. Ltd.

Also see: Barrington Municipality




Barss Corner Electric Light Company Limited
Lunenburg County, Barss Corner and vicinity.

The Barss Corner EL Co. was incorporated on 23 June 1921. The BCEL Co. was purely a distributing company, meaning it did not generate any electric power; it purchased all of its electric power from J. Zwicker & Son of New Germany.




Bear River & Digby Electric Light, Heating & Power Company Limited

NSL 1899 chapter 137 — Act to change the name of the Bear River Electric Light, Heating & Power Co to the Bear River & Digby Electric Light, Heating & Power Co.

Also see: Bear River Electric Light, Heating & Power Co. Ltd.




Bear River Electric Light, Heating & Power Company Limited

NSL 1899 chapter 137 — Act to change the name of the Bear River Electric Light, Heating & Power Co to the Bear River & Digby Electric Light, Heating & Power Co.

Also see: Bear River & Digby Electric Light, Heating & Power Co. Ltd.




Bedford Electric Company Limited

NSL 1898 chapter 133 — Act to incorporate the Bedford Electric Co. Ltd.
NSL 1899 chapter 136 — Amendment
NSL 1901 chapter 171 — Amendment
NSL 1903 chapter 182 — Amendment
NSL 1906 chapter 156 — Amendment
NSL 1908 chapter 137 — Amendment
NSL 1909 chapter 131 — Amendment





S.P. Benjamin Company Limited

NSL 1897 chapter 111 — Act to incorporate S.P. Benjamin Co. Ltd.
NSL 1900 chapter 165 —

Also see: Nova Scotia Electric Light Co. Ltd.
The Benjamin Lumber Mill, White Rock, Nova Scotia. c. 1910
The Benjamin Lumber Mill, White Rock

This photograph appears on page 152 of "White Rock Past and Present"
by Doris Atwell, published 2004

This postcard was postmarked in Kentville in September 1915.
The photograph is believed to have been taken some years before 1915.

Located where the Black River flows into the Gaspereau River, White Rock – often called White Rock Mills – has seen numerous mill operations, including that of S.P. Benjamin.  About 1885 Benjamin bought out the Calder and Freeman mill along with much of the timberlands upriver and around the lakes.  Running day and night with 75 men employed, in one year his operation shipped seven million board feet of lumber out of nearby ports.  The route travelled by horse and ox teams over the Deep Hollow Road (paved now but not then) to Wolfville, Canning and Port Williams was no easy haul.
Historic Kings County (booklet), Kings County Historical Society, 2004

Map showing the location of the S.P. Benjamin Lumber Mill, White Rock, Nova Scotia
Map showing the location of the S.P. Benjamin Lumber Mill, White Rock
Thanks to Doris Atwell




Norman Bethune
Service area: Baddeck, Victoria County
In January 1927, Norman Bethune (1899-1986) began providing electric power, during the evening hours only, to a small area of downtown Baddeck.

A PUB report dated 30 June 1927 states that:
Mr. Norman Bethune, owner of the plant, told the PUB that the generating equipment consists of one 15 horsepower oil engine [probably a single-cylinder Diesel (compression-ignition) engine] belted to a ten kilowatt Direct Current [DC] 110-volt generator.  The distribution system includes 1.5 miles [about 2.4 km] of line carried for the most part on poles owned by the Maritime Telegraph & Telephone Company, only fourteen poles having been supplied by Mr. Bethune.

[Comment: Since this was a DC system, there were no transformers anywhere – the entire system operated at the generator voltage.  A system operating at 110 volts DC could not serve customers located 1.5 miles from the generating plant – the voltage drop would be excessive – thus it can be inferred that the generating plant was located roughly at the geographic center of the service area, with distribution lines radiating in at least two directions, east and west, and probably in four directions, so that no customer would be much more than about 2000 feet [600 metres or so] from the generator.  Even with this arrangement, the distribution system would not have been able to supply electricity to the farthest customer at satisfactory voltage.  A ten kilowatt generator supplying 110 volts will be delivering about 90 amperes.  Assuming the distribution system radiated in four directions, with the load divided equally among all four lines (the most favourable arrangement), each circuit would be carrying more than 20 amperes, and the voltage drop would be dramatic even over a distance of two or three blocks.  Mr. Bethune's DC system, as he well knew, was not capable of reaching even to the town outskirts, but this was a startup operation, financed on a shoestring, and it was good enough to bring electric lights to the area for the first time.]


The PUB report continues: The total capital cost of plant installed to date, including land and buildings, is approximately $4,000.   The system has been in operation for five months and has at present 23 consumers connected with the expectation of serving a total of 40 consumers, together with nine 60-watt street lights.

The operating expenses for the five months amounted to $640.00, prorated for twelve months would total $1536.00.  To this should be added for interest, depreciation and return on investment $480.00, making a total required annual income of $2016.00 (for a sustainable continuing operation).

The revenue for the five months was $395.64, which would amount to about $950.00 for the year, less than one-half the return Mr. Bethune is entitled to.  While slightly more than one-half of the prospective consumers are at present being served, it is doubtless true that the most profitable part of the load is connected and the balance when connected will not yield revenue in as great a proportion, while additional fuel cost will further increase the operating costs... However, Mr. Bethune has expressed a willingness to forego an adequate return during the time the load is being built up, and it is the feeling of the Board (that Mr. Bethune should be permitted to continue his electric utility service)...

— Source: PUB Annual Report 1925, pages 117-118





Black River Hydro Limited

Incorporated 27 September 1983

In 1984, Black River Hydro Limited built a 230 kW hydro-electric generating plant in Melford, Guysborough County.  The plant went into operation (first sale of electricity through the meter to Nova Scotia Power Inc.) on 4 July 1984.  Since that time it has operated the generating station, and sold electricity to Nova Scotia Power Inc., on a contract term that now (2006) entends to 2023.  Black River Hydro Ltd. was the first small-scale privately-owned company in Nova Scotia to successfully negotiate a contract to sell hydroelectric power to the provincial utility.  The company is a leader in proving that small companies can own and operate small electrical generating facilities and sell power to the local electric utility company.

Black River Hydro Ltd. is a one-man company.  According to the official records of the Joint Stock Registry (August 2006), Neal Livingston is the sole director, president, secretary, and treasurer of the company.
Reference: Profile





Blockhouse Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Lunenburg County

NSL 1901 chapter 147 — Act to incorporate the Blockhouse Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.





Bridgetown Electric Light Company Limited
Annapolis County

NSL 1888 chapter 132 — Act to incorporate the Bridgetown Electric Light Co. Ltd.

Also see: Bridgetown Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Bridgetown Electric Light, Heat & Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Bridgetown Water, Power & Light Co. Ltd.
Also see: Town of Bridgetown (municipal electric utility)

Electric utility companies were required to report annually to the PUB, certain basic statistics such as operating revenue, operating expenses, taxes, debt, and the like. For the year 1912, the Bridgetown EL Co.'s statistics are missing in the PUB Annual Report, and the note "burned out" appears on that line. There is no further information; this note may mean that there was a fire in the company's office and its records were destroyed.




Bridgetown Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Annapolis County
Also see: Bridgetown Electric Light Co. Ltd.
Also see: Bridgetown Electric Light, Heat & Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Bridgetown Water, Power & Light Co. Ltd.
Also see: Town of Bridgetown (municipal electric utility)




Bridgetown Electric Light, Heat & Power Company Limited
Annapolis County

NSL 1898 chapter 148 — Act to incorporate the Bridgetown Electric Light, Heat & Power Co. Ltd.

Also see: Bridgetown Electric Light Co. Ltd.
Also see: Bridgetown Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Bridgetown Water, Power & Light Co. Ltd.
Also see: Town of Bridgetown (municipal electric utility)




Bridgetown Water, Power & Light Company Limited
Annapolis County

NSL 1898 chapter 150 — Act to incorporate the Bridgetown Water, Power & Light Co. Ltd.

Also see: Bridgetown Electric Light Co. Ltd.
Also see: Bridgetown Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Bridgetown Electric Light, Heat & Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Town of Bridgetown (municipal electric utility)




Bridgewater Electric Light, Water, & Power Company Limited
Lunenburg County

NSL 1891 chapter 148 — Act to incorporate the Bridgewater Electric Light, Water, & Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1898 chapter 158 — Act to confirm the sale of the Bridgewater Electric Light, Water, & Power Co.

Also see: Bridgewater Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Town of Bridgewater (municipal electric utility)




Bridgewater Power Company Limited
Lunenburg County

NSL 1897 chapter 103 — Act to incorporate the Bridgewater Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1898 chapter 158 — Act to confirm the sale of the Bridgewater Electric Light, Water, & Power Co.

Also see: Bridgewater Electric Light, Water, & Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Town of Bridgewater (municipal electric utility)




Brooklyn Light & Power Company Limited
Hants County: Brooklyn




Brooklyn Energy Limited Partnership
Brooklyn Energy Centre
Queens County: Brooklyn
Also see: Brooklyn Power Corporation
Also see: Polsky Energy Corporation of Brooklyn Inc.

Brooklyn Energy Limited Partnership [RJSC ID#2305412] was registered as a Nova Scotia Limited Partnership on 17 November 1993 with the Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stock Companies. Its registered office was at 5151 George Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Brooklyn Energy Centre [RJSC ID#2375135] was registered as a Business Name on 10 June 1994 with the Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stock Companies. Its registered office was at 5151 George Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Source: Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stock Companies [RJSC]
    http://www.gov.ns.ca/snsmr/business/rjsc/


On March 11, 1994, Energy Initiatives Inc. (EI) entered into an agreement with Polsky Energy Corporation of Brooklyn Inc. to invest up to US$9,700,000 of equity in Brooklyn Energy Limited Partnership.

The equity will be used towards the construction and operation of a 24 MW wood and oil-fired cogeneration facility, which is located in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, Canada. Commercial operation of the facility is scheduled to commence in 1996. EI Services Canada Limited was formed to provide operations and maintenance services to EWGs in Canada.

General Public Utilities Corporation (GPU) holds
        100% of the equity in EI Services Canada Ltd.;
        100% of the equity in EI Canada Holding Ltd.;
        100% of the equity in EI Brooklyn Investment Ltd.;
        100% of the equity in EI Brooklyn Power Ltd.; and
        75% of the equity in Brooklyn Energy LP.

EI Services Canada Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of EI Canada Holding Limited, which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Energy Initiatives Inc. The remaining 75% of the equity in Brooklyn Energy LP is held by Polsky Energy Corporation of Brooklyn Incorporated and Brooklyn Cogen Limited, which are incorporated in Canada.

On March 11, 1994, a letter of credit in the face amount of US$9,700,000 was issued by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, in favor of The Mutual Life Assurance Company of Canada to support EI's equity commitment to Brooklyn Energy Limited Partnership. The letter of credit carries a fee equal to 0.625 of 1 percent per annum of the face amount, and expires on December 11, 1996. GPU entered into the related reimbursement agreement.

On December 11, 1996, a letter of credit in the face amount of $9,700,000 issued on March 11, 1994 and scheduled to expire on December 11, 1996, was extended to June 11, 1997. The letter of credit was issued by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, in favor of The Mutual Life Assurance Company of Canada to support GPU International's equity commitment to Brooklyn Energy Limited Partnership. The letter of credit carries a fee equal to 0.625 of 1 percent per annum of the face amount. GPU entered into the related reimbursement agreement.

Date: April 4, 1997 — GPU International has agreed to contribute C$12,944,000, or approximately US$9,700,000, in equity and an additional C$1,000,000, or approximately US$700,000, in subordinated debt to Brooklyn Energy Limited Partnership, which owns a 24 MW wood and oil-fired cogeneration facility located in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, Canada. Commercial operation of the facility commenced in April 1996.

Sources: Official reports dated 27 Jan 1994, 30 Aug 1995, 16 Nov 1995, 1 Apr 1996, 8 May 1996, 31 May 1996, 30 Aug 1996, 27 Feb 1997, 4 Apr 1997, 2 Jun 1997, 9 Aug 1997, 21 Aug 1997, 3 Dec 1997, and 4 May 1998,
by General Public Utilities Corporation, Parsippany, New Jersey
to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.C.
    http://www.bandwidthmarket.com/resources/sec/
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-94-000004.txt
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-95-000062.txt
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-95-000089.txt
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-96-000020.txt
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-96-000036.txt
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-96-000040.txt
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-96-000070.txt
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-97-000010.txt
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-97-000018.txt
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-97-000031.txt
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-97-000058.txt
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-97-000062.txt
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-97-000088.txt
        General_Public_Utilites_Corp/0000040779-98-000028.txt








Wood-Fired Electric Generating Plant
Scheduled to Close


Power Station Losing Money

Fate of 28 Jobs Uncertain as Layoff Notices are Issued
29 December 1997

EI Services Canada is closing its operation of the Brooklyn Energy Centre and is looking to its investors to pick up the pieces. Due to continuing financial losses, the wood-fired electric power generating station will no longer be run by the company as of the end of February. Company spokesperson Pat Doll says contracts to supply electric power and steam to its customers are not enough to keep the operation afloat. He noted that start-up problems have been a thorn in the company's side since the plant began operation in 1996. The plant has a 20-year contract to supply steam to Bowater Mersey, and a 33-year contract to supply 22 megawatts of electric power to Nova Scotia Power Inc. Bowater relies on the plant for about 75% of the steam it needs for its pulp and newsprint manufacturing operations.

"EI Services Canada has announced it will cease providing operating and maintenance services to the Brooklyn Energy Centre on or before 1 March 1998. This decision has resulted from the inability of the owner, Brooklyn Energy Partnership, to pay certain amounts which are due to EI Services Canada," said a release sent out by fax on 7 January 1998.

Although EI Services, a subsidiary of Polsky Energy Corporation of Illinois, will no longer operate the plant, the door is open for the investors to restructure the plant's operations, Doll said. "The lending institutions will now decide its future," he said. "Our hope is that they would continue its operation under new management. It is a very good plant." 28 people work at the plant, which has a payroll of around $1,000,000 annually. Layoff notices were issued on Monday, 29 December 1997, and are effective in eight weeks.

The plant is located in Brooklyn, Queens County, across Highway 3 from the Bowater Mersey paper mill. It burns wood products such as bark and other wood scraps from Bowater Mersey and other producers of wood waste, and supplies steam to Bowater for use in the mill's operation. The plant's electrical output is purchased by Nova Scotia Power Inc., and is fed into the provincial electrical grid. A group of companies invested close to $80,000,000 to build the Brooklyn generating station. Federal, provincial, and municipal governments invested more than $12,000,000 in the project.

Excerpted from the Liverpool Advance, 7 January 1998, and
the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 8 January 1998




Brooklyn Power Corporation
Queens County: Brooklyn
Also see: Brooklyn Energy Limited Partnership
Also see: Polsky Energy Corporation
Also see: South Shore Power Services Incorporated

The final sale of the Brooklyn Energy Centre is complete. The plant has been sold to the original lenders of the project, a group of large insurance companies. The plant will continue to be operated by South Shore Power Service.
[Bridgewater Bulletin, 24 February 1999]


The McCarthy Tetrault law firm acted on behalf of a syndicate of life insurance companies in connection with the acquisition and financing of the Brooklyn Energy Center.


The Brooklyn Energy Centre is a $75,000,000 waste wood co-generation facility supplying electrical energy to Nova Scotia Power Inc. and steam energy to Bowater Mersey Paper Company. The plant's electrical capacity is 28 MW gross (electrical output of the turbine generator) or 22 MW net (after deducting the plant's internal use of power for electric motors for pumping boiler feedwater, driving conveyor belts, processing fuel, rotating field excitation, lighting, etc.)
Photograph of the Control Room at Brooklyn Energy
    http://access.nscc.ns.ca/Industry/students.htm


November 2001 — Brooklyn Power Corporation, which supplies steam to the Bowater Mersey paper mill, is suing Bowater for six million dollars. In papers filed with the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, Brooklyn Power claims Bowater owes it $6,100,000 in payments dating to May 2000. That's when the province forced the steam plant to use a higher grade of fuel to fire its boilers to supply Bowater.

The steam plant, located across Highway 1 from the Bowater mill at Brooklyn in Queens County, has been supplying Bowater with steam since 1993, first under the ownership of Brooklyn Energy and recently under the ownership of Brooklyn Power. Brooklyn Power's fuel is mainly wood waste — tree bark and wood scraps — it gets from Bowater. Bowater agreed to pay Brooklyn Power "at a price determined in part by the actual average weighted cost of fuel oil Brooklyn Power uses," the power company's statement of claim says.

The Environment Department originally allowed Brooklyn Power to burn number 6 fuel oil, commonly called Bunker C. In 2000 the department amended its permit forcing Brooklyn Power to use higher grade number 2 oil, which costs more than bunker C.

Since the revised permit went into effect, Brooklyn Power has sent Bowater monthly invoices with the recalculated amount, but "Bowater has refused to pay the extra costs associated with the required change in fuel oil," Brooklyn Power said in its statement of claim. Bowater has until early December to file a defence.

In 1998, Brooklyn Energy Limited Partnership, which designed and built the steam plant and operated it for the first few years, went bankrupt. A year later, a group of insurance companies that had been among its secured creditors, bought it.

Last month, Finance Minister Neil LeBlanc wrote off $911,527 the defunct partnership owed the province.

[Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 21 November 2001]




Canada Electric Company Limited
Cumberland County

NSL 1889 chapter 128 — Act to incorporate the Canada Electric Co. Ltd.
NSL 1898 chapter 167 — Act to authorize the Company to sell property to the Town of Amherst
NSL 1913 chapter 166 — Amendment

Also see: Eastern Utilities Ltd.


Nova Scotia Power Commission
acquires
Canada Electric Company Limited
January 4, 1961

As of January 1st, 1961, the total authorized capital of the Canada Electric Company Limited was 15,000 shares, divided 11,500 common and 3,500 preferred. Of these authorized shares, 9,000 common shares and 2,500 preferred shares were issued.

By agreement dated January 1st, 1961 and effective January 4th, 1961, all issued shares — 9,000 common and 2,500 preferred — were acquired from the former shareholders and as of January 4th, 1961 said shares were held as follows:
       Her Majesty the Queen   . . . .  2500 preferred shares
       Her Majesty the Queen   . . . .  8970 common shares
       George I. Smith   . . . . . . .     5 common shares
       Harvey W.L. Doane   . . . . . .     5 common shares
       Ronald G. Smith   . . . . . . .     5 common shares
       J. Craig MacDonald  . . . . . .     5 common shares
       Roderick J. McSween . . . . . .     5 common shares
       William L. Jodrey   . . . . . .     5 common shares
                                        ----
               Total                    9000 common shares
                                        2500 preferred shares
Source: 1961 Annual Report of the Public Utilities Board, pages 86-87

Note: In January 1961, George Issac Smith of Truro was the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners (the directors) of the Nova Scotia Power Commission. The other five men named above were Commissioners. Assigning shares to them was part of the legal proceedings required to transfer ownership and management control to the new owner.





Canadian Provincial Power Company Limited

NSL 1914 chapter 181 — Act to incorporate the Canadian Provincial Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1915 chapter   93 — Amendment
NSL 1918 chapter 128 — Amendment
NSL 1919 chapter 164 — Amendment





Canadian Tungsten Mines Limited

NSL 1911 chapter 113 — Act to incorporate Canadian Tungsten Mines Ltd.
NSL 1912 chapter 187 — Amendment
NSL 1912 chapter 188 — Amendment
NSL 1913 chapter 173 — Amendment
NSL 1914 chapter 182 — Amendment
NSL 1914 chapter 183 — Amendment
NSL 1915 chapter   94 — Amendment

Also see: Halifax Power Co. Ltd.

In 1911 a company was incorporated under the name of The Canadian Tungsten Mines Limited, which name was afterwards changed more than once, and in 1913 it was called The Halifax Power Company Limited. The Act of incorporation gave legal authority to the company to engage in certain business activities, which included mining of scheelite and tungsten, transportation of freight and passengers on land or water from places in Nova Scotia, and the authority to "generate, sell and deliver, electricity or electric energy generated from steam or water power, and to build and maintain dams and make use of water power, and generate, sell and deliver, energy generated from water power."
Source:   Excerpted from the decision of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court dated 18 September 1913, on the appeal of Miller versus Halifax Power Co. Ltd. and Thomson versus Halifax Power Co. Ltd., as reported on pages 394-408 of the Eastern Law Reporter, volume XIII number 5, 24 December 1913, published by the Carswell Company, Toronto.




Canard Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Service area: In Kings County, Canard, Upper and Lower Canard, and Church Street.

Total pole line in service (April 1922) about 11 miles, from the point of connection with Gaspereaux River Light, Heat & Power Company near Port Williams, to the customers in the serviced territory. Canard EL&P Co. never operated a generating plant, and bought its electric power wholesale from Gaspereaux River LH&P Co. Beginning in 1923, Canard EL&P Co. sold electric power wholesale to Centreville EL&P Co.




Canning Water & Electric Light, Heating & Power Company Limited
Canning, Kings County
Historical notes about the Canning W&ELH&P Co.
      http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr11.html

NSL 1893 chapter 158 — Act to incorporate the Canning Water & Electric Light, Heating & Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1894 chapter   93 — Amendment

Also see: Water Commissioners of the Village of Canning




Cape Breton Bus & Tram Company Limited
On 29 September 1944, Cape Breton Bus & Tram Co. acquired all the property of Cape Breton Tramways Ltd.




Cape Breton Electric Company Limited
Historical notes about the Cape Breton Electric Co.
      http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr02.html

NSL 1900 chapter 130 — Act to incorporate the Cape Breton Electric Tramway & Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1901 chapter 159 — Change name to Cape Breton Electric Co. Ltd.
NSL 1902 chapter 183 — Amendment
NSL 1909 chapter 136 — Amendment
NSL 1911 chapter 115 — Amendment
NSL 1917 chapter 197 — Amend chapter 130 of 1900

Also see: Cape Breton Electric Tramway & Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Stone & Webster




Cape Breton Electric Tramway & Power Company Limited
Historical notes about the Cape Breton ET&P Co.
      http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr02.html

NSL 1900 chapter 130 — Act to incorporate the Cape Breton Electric Tramway & Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1901 chapter 159 — Change name to Cape Breton Electric Co. Ltd.

Also see: Cape Breton Electric Co. Ltd.
Also see: Stone & Webster




Cape Breton Tramways Limited

Cape Breton Tramways Ltd. operated a streetcar system within the Town of Glace Bay and an interurban line (public transit electric railway) between Glace Bay and Sydney. On 29 September 1944, Cape Breton Tramways Ltd. transferred all its property to the Cape Breton Bus & Tram Co.




Cape Split Development Company
Cape Split, Kings County, Nova Scotia

The Cape Split Development Company was created in 1916 with a four-fold purpose:
•  to examine the economic viability of the development of a hydroelectric power plant at Cape Split;
•  to obtain an engineer's report;
•  to carry out experimental work; and
•  to raise the capital necessary to complete the project.

After raising its initial capital by selling shares, the company hired the services of the New York consulting engineers Bogart and Pohl, whose report emphasized the growing need for hydroelectric power in the Maritimes and the suitability of the Cape Split site for the generation of said hydroelectric power. Also hired was the consulting engineer Charles M. Allen, who conducted experiments on the efficiency of the Clarkson Current Motor prototype, which the company hoped to use, and gave an extremely favorable report. All was ready for the beginning of construction at the Cape Split site, except for the necessary capital. Unfortunately, the initial $31,000 raised through the selling of shares was the sum total of all of the company's capital, so the project fell through.

In 1928, the property was sold to Minas Basin Pulp and Paper, although the right to develop power on the property was retained by the company. This right was deeded to the Nova Scotia Power Commission in 1957.
Sources:
    http://library.acadiau.ca/archives/research/acadia_archives/NSPC.pdf
    http://library.acadiau.ca/archives/research/acadia_archives/Moir_Alexander.doc




Carboline Gas Light Company Limited

NSL 1872 chapter 96 — Act to incorporate the Carboline Gas Light Co. Ltd.





Centreville Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Kings County, Centreville and vicinity

On 23 July 1923, Centreville EL&P Co. received official approval to issue 60 shares of common stock at a par value of $50.00 each, to raise $3,000 to pay for construction of its transmission line from "A.S. McDonald's corner, where connection is made with the Canard Electric Light & Power Co., into the district of Centreville, a distance of 2.3 miles. Construction materials included 90 cedar poles with cross arms and insulators, 2888 pounds of line wire, and seventeen 10-ampere kW·h meters." In July 1923, seventeen consumers were connected, "with the prospect of eight additional later". Centreville EL&P Co. never operated a generating plant. From the beginning in 1923, Centreville EL&P Co. bought its electric power wholesale from Canard EL&P Co. Canard EL&P Co. bought its electric power wholesale from Gaspereaux River Light, Heat & Power Co. In 1931, the Centreville EL&P Co. was sold to the Avon River Power Company.




Chambers Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Colchester County: Truro

NSL 1889 chapter 130 — Act to incorporate the Chambers Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1894 chapter 101 —
NSL 1901 chapter 172 — Amendment
NSL 1904 chapter 177 — Amendment

        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr13.html
Also see: Truro Electric Co.

Section 6 of chapter 130 of the Acts of 1889, as amended, reads as follows: The Chambers Electric Light & Power Company "is hereby empowered to erect and place upon and along the streets, ways, and other necessary places and highways in the town of Truro, and also in the county of Colchester, poles or other necessary supports with wires thereon for the transmission of electric currents for purposes of the company's business, but not to interfere with the Nova Scotia Telephone or Western Union Telegraph wires now erected in Truro, and no person or corporation shall erect or place any electric light or other wires within three feet 90 cm of the wires of the company."
Source:   Excerpted from the Nova Scotia court decision by J. Ritchie dated 21 November 1913, on the action by the Town of Truro versus Chambers Electric Light & Power Company, as reported on pages 443-450 of the Eastern Law Reporter, volume XIII number 6, 15 January 1914, published by the Carswell Company, Toronto.




Chandler Electric Company Limited

NSL 1888 chapter 129 — Act conferring certain powers upon the Chandler Electric Co. Ltd.
NSL 1890 chapter 202 —





Chester Light, Power & Water Company Limited
Lunenburg County

NSL 1910 chapter 128 — Act to incorporate the Chester Light, Power & Water Co. Ltd.





Chester Light & Power Company Limited
Lunenburg County: Chester, Marriotts Cove, Chester Basin, Gold River, Western Shore, Martins Point, Martins River, Indian Point, East Chester, Blandford, Hubbards, Queensland, Black Point, Ingramport

NSL 1924 chapter __ — Act to incorporate the Chester Light & Power Co. Ltd.

The Chester L&P Co. was incorporated in 1924, by Foreman Hawboldt, Carrol Manning, Roy Hennigar, Harold Hilchie, Owen Zinck, and Eugene Publicover. In November 1924, the Chester L&P Co. had 73 electricity meters in service, which indicates it had 73 paying customers.





Chignecto Light & Power Company Limited




Chipman's Corner Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Service area: In Kings County: Chipman's Corner (about 3km north of New Minas)

In 1928, Chipman's Corner EL&P Co. bought $408.20 worth of energy from Avon River Power Co.
Source: Page 123, The Story of R.A. Jodrey, Entrepreneur (book), by Harry Bruce, McClelland and Stewart, 1979




Cobequid Power Company Limited
Service area: In Colchester County, Belmont, Debert, Great Village, Bass River, and surrounding territory

Cobequid Power Co. never operated a generating plant. When it started in business, it purchased all its electric power from The Falls hydroelectric generating station in Colchester County, owned and operated by the Northumberland Light & Power Co. To get this power from The Falls to its service area, it erected a 4-wire 3-phase 12.5 kV transmission line from The Falls 17.5 miles to Stewart's Bridge in Colchester County, and thence toward Truro. This transmission line bringing electric power from The Falls was the sole source of supply for the Cobequid Power Co. until 1 October 1933, when Cobequid ceased to draw its power from The Falls, and began purchasing it from the Truro Electric Commission. At that time, the transmission line became unnecessary to Cobequid's operation, and in May 1934 Cobequid applied to the PUB to sell part of this line, the 17.5 miles from the Falls to Stewart's Bridge, to Northumberland L&P Co. This transaction was complicated by the fact that this portion of the line served not only for transmission of wholesale electric power, but also supplied two domestic (residential) customers along the route. After extensive examination of the situation, on 27 July 1934 the PUB denied the application to sell the line.




Dartmouth & Cow Bay Electric Company Limited

NSL 1911 chapter 120 — Act to incorporate the Dartmouth & Cow Bay Electric Co. Ltd.
NSL 1914 chapter 170 — Amendment





Dartmouth Gas & Electric Light & Heating & Power Company Limited

NSL 1889 chapter 132 — Act to incorporate the Dartmouth Gas & Electric Light & Heating & Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1920 chapter 181 — Amendment

The Dartmouth GELHP Co. was incorporated on 17 April 1889, under chapter 132 of the 1889 Acts of the Legislature. On 25 February 1935, official approval was given by the PUB for the Dartmouth GELHP Co. to sell its entire property, assets and undertaking to the Nova Scotia Light & Power Co.





Dartmouth Gas Light & Water Company Limited

NSL 1861 chapter 76 — Act to incorporate the Dartmouth Gas Light & Water Co. Ltd.





Dartmouth Tram & Power Company Limited

NSL 1890 chapter 189 — Act to incorporate the Dartmouth Tram & Power Co. Ltd.





Dartmouth Water & Gas Company

NSL 1867 chapter 55 — Act to incorporate the Dartmouth Water & Gas Co.





Digby Electric Light Company Limited

The Digby EL Co. reported that, during the year 1912, its operating revenue was $5,941.68 and operating expenses were $5,324.52, and it paid $108.87 in taxes.
Source: PUB Annual Report 1912-13

On 14 June 1922, the Digby EL Co. received official approval from the PUB to sell the whole of its undertaking to the Town of Digby.
Source: PUB Annual Report 1922




Dominion Iron & Steel Company Limited     DISCO
Nova Scotia: DISCO electric generating plant, 1902
Electric generating plant, 1902
Dominion Iron and Steel Company, Sydney, Nova Scotia
Three main electric generators, each driven by a
compound reciprocating steam engine (three large flywheels).
Source: page 219, "Cape Breton, Canada, at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century"
by C.W. Vernon, Nation Publishing Company, Toronto, 1903





Dominion Utilities Company Limited




Eastern Development Company Limited

NSL 1882 chapter   61 — Act to incorporate the Eastern Development Co. Ltd.
NSL 1883 chapter   71 —
NSL 1884 chapter   71 —
NSL 1885 chapter   99 —
NSL 1886 chapter 141 —
NSL 1890 chapter 181 — To extend powers, as to Gas Works and Water Works, etc.





Eastern Light & Power Company Limited
Service area: Sydney and North Sydney and vicinity.
Also see: Sydney Mines Electric Co. Ltd.

By Order In Council dated 9 June 1931, the name of the Sydney Mines Electric Co. Ltd. was changed to Eastern Light & Power Co. Ltd., with head office in Sydney.

In 1967, the Nova Scotia Power Commission acquired the shares of Eastern Light & Power Company Limited.




Eastern Utilities Limited
Eastern Utilities Limited was a holding company (it owned shares of other companies), not an operating utility company (it did not own any generating plants or transmission lines or any other equipment used in the production and/or distribution of electric power, it did not deliver electricity to anyone, and it did not send bills to electric power consumers). Eastern Utilities Limited was incorporated in Prince Edward Island; it is included in this history of Nova Scotia electric companies because it owned companies in the electric power business in Nova Scotia — Canada Electric Co. Ltd., Maritime Coal, Railway and Power Co. Ltd., and Joggins Coal Co. Ltd. (all three based in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia).


May 1940:   Eastern Utilities Limited is an investment holding Company which owns all the issued shares of Canada Electric Company Limited; The Eastern Electric and Development Company Limited; and with the exception of 33 shares, all of the 11,254 shares (par value $100) of the Moncton Electricity and Gas Company Limited; also the majority of common (voting) shares of Maritime Coal, Railway and Power Company Limited; and all the issued shares of Joggins Coal Company Limited.

The Managing Director of Eastern Utilities Limited is J.H. Winfield of Halifax. Other directors are: Hon. F.B. McCurdy, P.C. of Halifax; L.A. Lovett, K.C. of Halifax; Hon. C.W. Robinson of Moncton; and H.A. Forsythe, M.M. King, and M.K. Bell of Charlottetown.

Source: a prominent display advertisement in the Kentville Advertiser, 9 May 1940, by Johnston and Ward, a large Montreal brokerage firm, offering for sale shares of Eastern Utilities Limited. "The statements contained herein are based on information which we believe to be reliable..."




The Edison Electric Light & Power Company Limited of Springhill

NSL 1892 chapter 155 — Act to incorporate the Edison Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd. of Springhill
NSL 1914 chapter 151 — Amendment





Egerton Tramway Company Limited
Pictou County: Trenton - New Glasgow - Stellarton - Westville

NSL 1902 chapter 137 — Act to incorporate the Egerton Tramway Co. Ltd.
NSL 1903 chapter 234 — Amendment
NSL 1904 chapter 133 — Act respecting assessment of the Egerton Tramway in New Glasgow, Stellarton, and Westville
NSL 1906 chapter 160 — Amendment
NSL 1909 chapter 142 — Act to confirm contract between New Glasgow Electric Co. Ltd. and Egerton Tramway Co. Ltd.
NSL 1909 chapter 143 — Amendment and name changed
NSL 1910 chapter 163 — Amendment
NSL 1916 chapter 105 — Amendment

Also see: New Glasgow Electric Co. Ltd.
        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr06.html




Electric Association of Nova Scotia

NSL 1921 chapter 160 — Act to incorporate the Electric Association of Nova Scotia





Emera Incorporated
Also see: NS Power Holdings Inc.
Also see: Nova Scotia Power Inc.
On 17 July 2000, the company name was changed to Emera Inc. from NS Power Holdings Inc.

On 2 December 1998 shareholders approved a proposal to reorganize Nova Scotia Power Inc. to create a holding company structure. This reorganization allows the regulated utility business of Nova Scotia Power (NSPI) to be held in a corporation separate from other business activities. On 9 December 1998 the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia ratified the new holding company structure. On 1 January 1999 all NSPI common shareholders exchanged their shares for NS Power Holdings Inc. common shares on a one-for-one basis.
Source: NS Power Holdings Inc. Annual Report 1998
    http://www.emera.com/images/annreport98.pdf


NS Power Holdings Inc. common shares were approved for listing on the Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges and began trading on 6 January 1999. The company name was changed to Emera Inc. on 17 July 2000.
Source: Emera Inc. Annual Report 2000
    http://www.emera.com/images/annreport00.pdf


In early October 2001, final regulatory approvals for the merger between the Bangor Hydro Electric Company and Emera Inc. were received. On October 10, 2001, Emera completed the acquisition of all of the outstanding common stock of the Bangor Hydro Electric Company for US$26.806 per share in cash.
Source: Bangor Hydro Electric Company Annual Report 2001 (SEC form 10-K)
    http://biz.yahoo.com/e/020320/bgr.html







Bangor Hydro-Electric Company

Bangor Hydro service area Bangor Hydro
service area
The purchase of Bangor Hydro-Electric Company by Emera Inc. was completed on 10 October 2001. Emera acquired all of the outstanding shares of Bangor Hydro common stock for US$26.50 per share in cash, and the holders of the outstanding warrants to purchase Bangor Hydro's common stock received US$26.50 less the $7.00 exercise price per warrant. Bangor Hydro's outstanding preferred stock was not affected by the transaction. Bangor Hydro is an electric utility serving a population of about 192,000 in an area encompassing 5,275 square miles 13,660 square kilometres in eastern and east coastal Maine. Bangor Hydro is a member of the New England Power Pool and is interconnected with other New England utilities to the south and with the New Brunswick Power Corporation to the north.
Source: Bangor Hydro-Electric Company website
    http://www.bhe.com/about/news_action.cfm?news_id=31





Eureka Power Company Limited
Pictou County




Gaspereaux River Light, Heat & Power Company Limited
Kings County
Incorporated March 3, 1920, by C.H. Wright and R.A. Jodrey, both of Wolfville.

In 1917, electric power service in the town of Wolfville, supplied by the Acadia Electric Light Company in Wolfville was far from satisfactory. The Wolfville Board of Trade (whose secretary, incidentally, was George C. Nowlan, a federal cabinet minister forty years later) decided somebody had to do something about the electricity supply in Wolfville. It asked two of the sharpest young businessmen around town to investigate the Gaspereau River as a power source.

They were Charles H. Wright, a capable and popular building contractor, and Roy A. Jodrey, farmer, apple speculator, and fair-haired boy of the W.H. Chase organization. L.E. Shaw, a brick manufacturer who was also president of the Wolfville Board of Trade, wrote many years later that Jodrey and Wright "never came back to report. They found more than we had anticipated."

Wright and Jodrey found a waterfall, formed a company (Gaspereaux River Light, Heat & Power Company), built a dam (at Stivers Falls), installed a powerhouse, and built electric transmission lines out across the Annapolis Valley...

No one is precisely sure about the construction schedule of the dam, powerhouse, and pulpworks that Wright and Jodrey built at Stivers Falls, White Rock, Kings County, but two facts are known:

      • Wright and Jodrey got provincial approval for the dam on June 15, 1917. Charlie Wright had his plans ready, and, that day, work began on construction of the dam.

      • The hydroelectric generating plant began to operate on February 25, 1920. By May 1920, it was producing electric power for Wolfville, Greenwich, and Port Williams...
Source:   Excerpted from pages 114, 118 and 119, The Story of R.A. Jodrey, Entrepreneur (book), by Harry Bruce, McClelland and Stewart, 1979


In 1926, the Gaspereaux River Light, Heat & Power Company was sold to the Avon River Power Company.




Gaspereaux Valley Electric Light Company Limited
Kings County
Incorporated March 3, 1920, by C.H. Wright and R.A. Jodrey, both of Wolfville.

On July 29, 1920, the Gaspereaux Valley EL Company applied to the Public Utilities Board for authority to issue 800 shares valued at ten dollars each, to get $8,000 to build six miles ten kilometres of power line between the Stivers Falls powerhouse at White Rock and the village of Gaspereau.
Source:   Excerpted from page 120, The Story of R.A. Jodrey, Entrepreneur (book), by Harry Bruce, McClelland and Stewart, 1979


In 1931, the Gaspereaux Valley EL Co. was sold to the Avon River Power Company.




Gaspereaux Valley Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Kings County




Gold River Mines & Power Company Limited
Lunenburg County

NSL 1905 chapter 136 — Act to incorporate the Gold River Mines & Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1906 chapter 168 — Amendment

The Gold River Mines & Power Co. was incorporated under 5 Edw. VII c. 136, passed by the Nova Scotia Legislature on 7 April 1905.





Grafton Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Kings County




Guysboro Heat, Light & Power Company Limited




Habitant Electric Light Company Limited
Service area: In Kings County, Habitant and vicinity (about two km east from Canning)

The Habitant Electric Light Company Limited was incorporated in 1921.

The Habitant EL Company never generated electric power, it bought its electricity wholesale from the Canning Water Commission's electric system.

On 21 August 1941, the Public Utilities Board gave official approval for the sale of Habitant Electric Light Company to the Avon River Power Company of Windsor, then a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nova Scotia Light & Power Company of Halifax. The sale price was $800.
Source: Public Utilities Board Annual Report, 1941, pages 82-88

See note 3




Halifax Development Company Limited

NSL 1913 chapter 141 — Act to authorize the Halifax Development Co. Ltd. to erect poles and wires
NSL 1913 chapter 142 —





Halifax Electric Light Company Limited

NSL 1881 chapter 58 — Act to incorporate the Halifax Electric Light Co. Ltd.





Halifax Electric Tramway Company Limited

NSL 1895 chapter 107 — Act to incorporate the Halifax Electric Tramway Co. Ltd.
NSL 1896 chapter   87 — Amendment
NSL 1897 chapter 92 — Act respecting amalgamation of Halifax Gas light Co. with People's Heat & Light Co.
NSL 1902 chapter 180 — Act to amend chapter 107 of 1895
NSL 1906 chapter   66 — Act respecting taxation by City of Halifax
NSL 1911 chapter   11 — Of Street Railway Companies
NSL 1912 chapter 209 —
NSL 1912 chapter   78 —
NSL 1913 chapter 194 —


Historical notes about the Halifax Electric Tramway Company Ltd.
      http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electr04.html

Also see: Halifax Street Railway Co.
Also see: Halifax Gas Light Co. Ltd.

Electric Streetcars Begin Operating in Halifax
13 February 1896

"The first trolley car started out on February 13, 1896," according to a technical paper Halifax Electric Tramway Plant and Steam Engineering read on May 7, 1907, by Philip A. Freeman, Chief Engineer of the Halifax Electric Tram Company, before the Nova Scotia Society of Engineers. It is unclear whether this was a test run or the beginning of regular service, but it is certain that the electric street railway was able to operate at least one car on the track on this day.


There are very few soft coal regions where so little use has been made of coal gas and coke as is the case in Nova Scotia, notwithstanding that Nova Scotian coals are particularly suitable for gas manufacture, and are "fat" coals, yielding a larger percentage of by-products than any Canadian coals. The gas works of the Halifax Electric Tramway Company in Halifax, and the Yarmouth Fuel Gas Company, are the only gas works in the Province of Nova Scotia.
    — page 37 The Coal-Fields and Coal Industry of Eastern Canada, A General Survey and Description
by Francis W. Gray, Canada Department of Mines, 1917




Halifax Gas Consumers' Company

NSL 1872 chapter 94 — Act to incorporate the Halifax Gas Consumers' Co.





Halifax Gas Light Company

NSL 1840 chapter   16 — Act to incorporate the Halifax Gas Light & Water Co.
NSL 1844 chapter   72 — Change name to Halifax Gas Light Co.
NSL 1857 chapter   71 —
NSL 1863 chapter   70 —
NSL 1864 chapter   64 —
NSL 1867 chapter   78 —
NSL 1874 chapter   85 —
NSL 1881 chapter   60 —
NSL 1887 chapter 123 —
NSL 1888 chapter 118 —
NSL 1889 chapter 122 —
NSL 1897 chapter   92 — Act respecting amalgamation with the Peoples' Heat & Light Co.

Also see: Halifax Electric Tramway Co. Ltd.
Also see: Halifax Gas Light & Water Co.
Also see: Peoples' Heat & Light Co. Ltd.




Halifax Gas Light & Water Company

NSL 1840 chapter 16 — Act to incorporate the Halifax Gas Light & Water Co.
NSL 1841 chapter 19 — Amendment
NSL 1844 chapter 72 — Change name to Halifax Gas Light Co.

Also see: Halifax Gas Light Co.




Halifax Power Company Limited

NSL 1911 chapter 113 — Act to incorporate Canadian Tungsten Mines Ltd.
NSL 1912 chapter 187 — Amendment
NSL 1912 chapter 188 — Amendment
NSL 1913 chapter 173 — Amendment
NSL 1914 chapter 182 — Amendment
NSL 1914 chapter 183 — Amendment
NSL 1915 chapter   94 — Amendment
NSL 1917 chapter   88 — Act to authorize the City of Halifax to hold shares in the Halifax Power Co. Ltd. and to lend money thereto
NSL 1919 chapter   83 — Act to authorize and confirm agreement between City of Halifax and the Halifax Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1919 chapter   84 — Amendment

Also see: Canadian Tungsten Mines Ltd.

In 1911 a company was incorporated under the name of The Canadian Tungsten Mines Limited, which name was afterwards changed more than once, and in 1913 it was called The Halifax Power Company Limited. The company proposed to develop a water power site at St. Margaret's Bay, by damming the waters of North East River and diverting them into the bed of Indian River, the latter being dammed at various places.
Source:   Excerpted from the decision of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court dated 18 September 1913, on the appeal of Miller versus Halifax Power Co. Ltd. and Thomson versus Halifax Power Co. Ltd., as reported on pages 394-408 of the Eastern Law Reporter, volume XIII number 5, 24 December 1913, published by the Carswell Company, Toronto.

A project called the St. Margaret's Bay hydroelectric system, using the waters of these rivers, was built by the Nova Scotia Power Commission, an agency of the Nova Scotia Government. This project, which began regular operation in the autumn of 1922, consists of three hydroelectric plants, Mill Lake and Sandy Lake (these two generating plants are in the same building but utilize water from two separate rivers, the Mill Lake plant working on a head of 162 feet 49.4 m and the Sandy Lake plant working on a head of 125 feet 38.1 m), and Tidewater (taking the combined flow from both rivers and working on a head of 91 feet 27.7 m). The total installed capacity of these plants is 15,700 horsepower 11,700 kW. In 2001 it is owned and operated by Nova Scotia Power Inc., a subsidiary of Emera Inc.




Halifax Power & Pulp Company Limited
Halifax County: Sheet Harbour and vicinity

In 1933, the PUB officially declared that the Halifax Power & Pulp Company "is a public utility within the scope of the Public Utilities Act".




Hantsport Fruit Basket Company Limited

About 1915-1918, the steam-powered electric generating plant of the Hantsport Fruit Basket Company sold about $2,500 worth of electricity a year, to the town of Hantsport. The company burned slack coal and wood waste from its wood-working mill.
Source:   Excerpted from page 114, The Story of R.A. Jodrey, Entrepreneur (book), by Harry Bruce, McClelland and Stewart, 1979




Hillaton Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Service area: In Kings County, Hillaton and vicinity (about two km southwest from Canning)

The Hillaton EL&P Company never generated electric power, it bought its electricity wholesale from the Canning Water Commission's electric system.

On 21 August 1941, the Public Utilities Board gave official approval for the sale of Hillaton Electric Light & Power Company to the Avon River Power Company of Windsor, then a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nova Scotia Light & Power Company of Halifax. The sale price was $350. At the time of the sale, the Hillaton EL Company served 31 customers.
Source: Public Utilities Board Annual Report, 1941, pages 82-88

See note 3




Inverness Electric Light, Heat & Power Company Limited

NSL 1902 chapter 145 — Act to incorporate the Inverness Electric Light, Heat & Power Co. Ltd.





Island Electric Company Limited




Joggins Coal Company Limited
Also see: Eastern Utilities Ltd.




Joggins Coal & Railway Company Limited
Cumberland County: Joggins and vicinity
Also see: Eastern Utilities Ltd.

In November of 1897 the Joggins Coal and Railway Company which was operating a small electric generating plant at their mine offered to provide electricity to light the streets of Joggins. The only requirement was that the citizens provide the necessary poles, wire and lanterns. This was quite an achievement for a small town at this date as only the major centres had electricity. The citizens of Joggins were excited about this latest development in their fair town as travel out and about on the wooden sidewalks after dark would now be considerably safer.
Source: History of Joggins by Dara Legere
    http://www.geocities.com/dblegere/home.html




Kentville Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Kings County: Kentville and vicinity

NSL 1891 chapter 149 — Act to incorporate the Kentville Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1892 chapter 175 — Amendment
NSL 1902 chapter 187 — To amend chapter 149 of 1891

        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr08.html
Also see: Kentville Electric Commission




Kerosene Gas Light Company

NSL 1850 chapter 25 — Act to incorporate the Kerosene Gas Light Co.
NSL 1851 chapter   8 — Amendment





Kingsport Electric Light Company Limited
Service area: In Kings County, Kingsport and vicinity (about five km east from Canning)

On 27 September 1922, the Kingsport EL Co. received approval to issue 30 shares of common stock of par value $100.00 each, to raise $3000 for capital expenditures — the cost of construction of a power line from Habitant to Kingsport and a distribution system in Kingsport.

The Kingsport EL Company never generated electric power, it bought its electricity wholesale from the Habitant Electric Light Company.

On 21 August 1941, the Public Utilities Board gave official approval for the sale of the Kingsport Electric Light Company to the Avon River Power Company of Windsor, then a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nova Scotia Light & Power Company of Halifax. The sale price was $2,600.
Source: Public Utilities Board Annual Report, 1941, pages 82-88

See note 3




Lawrencetown Light, Heat & Power Company Limited
Annapolis County: Lawrencetown and vicinity




Lockeport Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Shelburne County: Lockeport and vicinity
Act to Incorporate LEL&P passed in 1924.




Logan & Company
Halifax County: Shubenacadie and vicinity




Louisburg Electric, Water & Power Company Limited

(Note: Louisburg is the correct spelling for this company name, not Louisbourg.)

Cape Breton County

NSL 1900 chapter 132 — Act to incorporate the Louisburg Electric, Water & Power Co. Ltd.





Lower Horton Electric Company Limited
Kings County

In 1931, the Lower Horton Electric Co. was sold to the Avon River Power Company.




Lunenburg Gas Company Limited
Lunenburg County

NSL 1889 chapter 133 — Act to incorporate the Lunenburg Gas Co. Ltd.
NSL 1897 chapter 124 — Amendment
NSL 1898 chapter 160 — Amendment

In spite of its name the Lunenburg Gas Company Limited sold electric power, not gas, at least in its later years.





Lunenburg Water, & Electric Light, Heating & Power Company Limited
Lunenburg County

NSL 1888 chapter 117 — Act to incorporate the Lunenburg Water, & Electric Light, Heating & Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1890 chapter 179 — Amendment
NSL 1892 chapter 187 — Amendment
NSL 1894 chapter 104 — Amendment
NSL 1895 chapter 130 — Amendment





Mahone Bay Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Lunenburg County




Maritime Coal, Railway & Power Company Limited
Also see: Eastern Utilities Ltd.




Maritime Fuel & Heating Gas Company Limited

NSL 1889 chapter 134 — Act to incorporate the Maritime Fuel & Heating Gas Co. Ltd.
NSL 1890 chapter 196 — Amendment





Medway Hydro Electric Power Company Limited
The Medway HEP Co. was incorporated 9 August 1919.




Mersey Hydraulic Company Limited




Miller & Gordon Manufacturing Company Limited




Milton Electric Light, Power & Manufacturing Company Limited




Milton Hydro-Electric Company Limited




Morgan Falls Power Company




Morristown Electric Light & Power Company Limited




New Glasgow Electric Company Limited
Pictou County

NSL 1887 chapter 102 — An Act to incorporate the New Glasgow Electric Co. Ltd.
NSL 1889 chapter 129 — Amendment, as to construction of Street Railways
NSL 1890 chapter 163 — Amendment, as to Powers of Directors
NSL 1891 chapter 178 — Amendment, as to borrowing money
NSL 1892 chapter 180 — Enacting several amendments
NSL 1893 chapter 182 — Enacting several amendments
NSL 1894 chapter   95 — Enacting several amendments
NSL 1895 chapter 145 — Enacting several amendments
NSL 1895 chapter 146 — Amendment, powers of Directors to borrow money
NSL 1896 chapter 110 — Amendment, limiting time for construction
NSL 1898 chapter 172 — Amendment, time for construction and completion
NSL 1909 chapter 142 — Act to confirm contract between New Glasgow Electric Co. Ltd. and Egerton Tramway Co. Ltd.
NSL 1909 chapter 143 — Amendment and name changed
NSL 1910 chapter 163 — Amendment
NSL 1916 chapter 105 — Amendment

Also see: Egerton Tramway Co. Ltd.
Also see: Pictou County Power Board
        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr06.html




Thomas G. Nicol
Shelburne County

In 1925, the PUB wrote: Thomas G. Nichol of Mahone Bay ... owns and operates a hydroelectric development at Canada Hill (in Shelburne County). In April 1924 (there seems to be some confusion in these dates) this plant was sold to the Town of Lockeport.




North Sydney Electric Light & Water Company Limited

NSL 1888 chapter 124 — An Act to incorporate the North Sydney Electric Light & Water Co. Ltd.





North Sydney Gas & Electric Light Company Limited

NSL 1882 chapter   80 — An Act to incorporate the North Sydney Gas & Electric Light Co. Ltd.
NSL 1888 chapter 149 — An Act to incorporate anew





North Sydney Water & Electric Company Limited

NSL 1890 chapter 170 — An Act to incorporate the North Sydney Water & Electric Co. Ltd.





Northumberland Light & Power Company Limited




Nova Scotia Electric Light Company Limited
White Rock Mills Tramway   Gaspereaux, Kings County

NSL 1873 chapter   24 — Act to authorize the construction of a Tramway from White Rock Mills, by S.P. Benjamin and others
NSL 1897 chapter 111 — Act to incorporate S.P. Benjamin Co. Ltd.
NSL 1899 chapter 135 — Act to incorporate the Nova Scotia Electric Light Co. Ltd.
NSL 1900 chapter 165 — Amendment, limiting service area to Kings and Annapolis Counties, and respecting sale by S.P. Benjamin Co. Ltd.
NSL 1901 chapter 174 — Amendment
NSL 1902 chapter 171 — Amendment

Also see: S.P. Benjamin Co. Ltd.




Nova Scotia Gas & Electric Light, Fuel & Power Company Limited

NSL 1887 chapter 92 — Act to incorporate the Nova Scotia Gas & Electric Light, Fuel & Power Co. Ltd.





Nova Scotia General Electric Company Limited

NSL 1894 chapter 86 — Act to incorporate the Nova Scotia General Electric Co. Ltd.





Nova Scotia Hydraulic Company Limited

NSL 1910 chapter 160 — Act to incorporate the Nova Scotia Hydraulic Co. Ltd.
NSL 1911 chapter 146 — Amendment





Nova Scotia Light & Power Company Limited
1911-1972   Historical notes about the Nova Scotia Light & Power Co. Ltd.
  http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr20.html





Nova Scotia Natural Gas Company Limited

NSL 1913 chapter 190 — Act to incorporate the Nova Scotia Natural Gas Co. Ltd.
NSL 1916 chapter 117 — Amendment





Nova Scotia Power Company Limited   (1889)

NSL 1889 chapter 135 — Act to incorporate the Nova Scotia Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1890 chapter 193 — Amendment, authorize to purchase property of Halifax Street Railway Co.
NSL 1891 chapter 158 — Amendment
NSL 1892 chapter 184 — Amendment, as to claims upon the Halifax Street Railway Co.





Nova Scotia Power Incorporated   (1992, privately-owned)
Also see: Nova Scotia Power Corporation (a government-owned company)
Also see: NS Power Holdings Incorporated (a privately-owned company)

Nova Scotia Power Incorporated (NSPI), a new privately-owned electric utility company, began operating on 12 August 1992, the day it bought the the assets of Nova Scotia Power Corporation (NSPC), which was wholly owned by the Government of Nova Scotia.

On 12 August 1992, Nova Scotia Power Incorporated (New NSP), a new privately-owned electric utility company, officially bought the assets of Nova Scotia Power Corporation (Old NSP). As the Halifax Chronicle-Herald reported the next day, Chuck MacNeil, Nova Scotia's Minister of Finance, "tightly clutching a $192,000,000 cheque, joined Premier Don Cameron" and New NSP President Louis Comeau "to officially close the deal to privatize the power utility ... The province's $192,000,000 cheque was the government's profit from the sale of $851,000,000 worth of new NSP shares. The utility received a cheque for $557,000,000 ... from RBC Dominion Securities, the lead underwriter" of the share sale (RBC is a short form of 'Royal Bank of Canada').

See: An Act to Permit the Corporate Reorganization of Nova Scotia Power Incorporated December 1998
    http://www.canlii.org/ns/laws/sta/1998c.19/20041004/whole.html

Nova Scotia Power Incorporated
Fuel Sources for Electric Power Generation
for the 12 Months of the Calendar Year
  1992
(MW·h)
1993
(MW·h)
1994
(MW·h)
1995
(MW·h)
1996
(MW·h)
Thermal,
Coal Fired
5,994,000 6,345,600 7,159,700 7,053,100 7,850,300
Thermal,
Oil Fired
2,469,500 2,117,200 1,205,700 1,239,400 608,700
Hydro 875,000 877,600 1,012,000 883,200 1,111,600
Purchased 194,700 218,900 216,200 499,500 254,600
Total Generated
and Purchased
9,533,200 9,559,300 9,593,600 9,675,200 9,825,200
Less: Losses and Internal Use 731,300 665,200 627,700 640,400 679,600
Total Electrical Energy Sold 8,801,900 8,894,100 8,965,900 9,034,800 9,145,600
Source: 1996 Annual Report, Nova Scotia Power Incorporated
[Note: The above figures, for 1 January 1992 to 12 August 1992, are those recorded by the Nova Scotia Power Corporation (NSPC), the former owner and operator of the electric power system which was sold to Nova Scotia Power Incorporated (NSPI) on 12 August 1992.]
one MW·h = 3,600 MJ
One MW·h is usually (1998) worth about $50 to $60
when sold as electricity at wholesale rates.





Nova Scotia Power Incorporated
Number of Customers
Buying Electric Power Service

as of 31 December in Each Year

1992 1993 1994 1995 1996
Residential 365,672 371,270 375,553 380,055 384,856
Commercial 32,143 32,289 32,342 32,383 32,329
Industrial 1,533 1,537 1,581 1,633 1,686
Other 5,518 5,596 5,731 5,892 5,908
Total 404,866 410,692 415,207 419,963 424,779

These numbers do not include customers of the
seven independent municipal electric utilities:
Antigonish, Berwick, Canso, Kentville,
Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, and Riverport.

[Source: 1996 Annual Report, Nova Scotia Power Incorporated]




In July 1996, Halifax lawyer David Mann was appointed president of Nova Scotia Power Incorporated. Mr. Mann was chosen after then-president Gerry Godsoe died suddenly in the spring of 1996. Mr. Godsoe had been appointed president in February 1996 after a year-long search to replace longtime president Louis Comeau. NSP's chairman was Derek Oland.
[Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 14 December 1996]




Early in 1997, NSPI moved its "entire Annapolis Valley operation from Wolfville" to a site in the Annapolis Valley Regional Industrial Park. Previously, NSPI's Annapolis Valley operation headquarters was situated across from Willow Park in Wolfville, with the 'Valley Shop' electrical maintenance facility at the east end of town opposite Tideways. Both these buildings were to be closed down, with the downtown facility slated for demolition. The downtown building was built about 1950 by the Nova Scotia Light & Power Company, before it was absorbed by the Nova Scotia Power Commission, which in time became NSPI. In January 1997, NSPI employed 33 people in Wolfville; all were moved to the new location and kept their previous jobs. A 1996 study indicated that 65% of the work done by this operation was located west of Kentville.
[Kentville Advertiser, 28 January 1997]




The 8 April 1998 issue of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald reported that David Mann, President of Nova Scotia Power Inc., got a boost in his paycheque last year. His salary for 1997 was $335,521, plus a $65,000 bonus, the utility reported in a proxy circular distributed to shareholders before the company's annual meeting slated for April 23, 1998. This was the first full year of reportable earnings for Mr. Mann since he took over the job on July 22, 1996. Last year, reported salary earnings for his first five months showed Mr. Mann earned a salary of $130,000, plus a $25,000 bonus. In addition to his 1997 salary and bonus, Mr. Mann received $3,893 in compensation and is provided with a car and its operating costs, along with membership in three social or recreation clubs. When Mr. Mann took over the job, NSP provided him a $250,000 loan to help with income liabilities arising from the sale of his partnership shares in his former Halifax law firm, Cox Downie. He can draw upon this loan in one or more advances, at any time until April 30, 1998. To date, there have been no advances made against the loan, it was reported in the proxy circular. Former NSP president Louis Comeau earned a salary of $185,287 in 1995. Mr. Mann's total pay of more than $400,000 for 1997 tops the salary list of the power utility's executives. Phil Sidebottom, NSP's vice-president of power production, earned the second-highest salary, a base of $149,770, plus a bonus of $22,500. The bonus was down from $26,460 the previous year. Robbie Shaw, vice-president of marketing and customer service, had a salary increase; his base salary rose from $144,997 to $149,615, plus a $24,000 bonus. Terry MacDonald, vice-president of business development, maintained the same salary, earning $144,999. However, Mr. MacDonald's bonus nearly doubled, from $17,400 in 1996 to $34,000. And Murray Coolican, vice-president of public and regulatory affairs, had a salary of $138,000 and a $24,000 bonus. Derek Oland, president and CEO of Moosehead Breweries, remains as the chairman of the board for NSP and receives a retainer of $50,000 per year. He does not receive any additional money for attendance at meetings. Each director is paid $14,000 per year, a fee of $900 for each board, committee and shareholders meeting attended, and $900 if a day's travel time is required to attend such meetings. Disclosure to shareholders of salaries of a company's top executives and board members is mandatory for all companies trading shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
[Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 8 April 1998]


On 2 December 1998 shareholders approved a proposal to reorganize Nova Scotia Power Inc. to create a holding company structure. This reorganization allows the regulated utility business of Nova Scotia Power (NSPI) to be held in a corporation separate from other business activities. On 9 December 1998 the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia ratified the new holding company structure. On1 January 1999 all NSPI common shareholders exchanged their shares for NS Power Holdings Inc. common shares on a one-for-one basis.
Source: NS Power Holdings Inc. Annual Report 1998
    http://www.emera.com/images/annreport98.pdf


NS Power Holdings Inc. common shares were approved for listing on the Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges and began trading on 6 January 1999. The company name was changed to Emera Inc. on 17 July 2000.
Source: Emera Inc. Annual Report 2000
    http://www.emera.com/images/annreport00.pdf



     Nova Scotia Power Inc.
         Net Peak Load
   Wed.  27 Dec 2006   1810 MW
   Thu.  28 Dec 2006   1895 MW
   Fri.  29 Dec 2006   2016 MW
   Sat.  30 Dec 2006   1881 MW
   Sun.  31 Dec 2006   1846 MW

   Sun.  14 Jan 2007   1840 MW
   Mon.  15 Jan 2007   1979 MW
   Tue.  16 Jan 2007   1968 MW
   Wed.  17 Jan 2007   2144 MW
   Thu.  18 Jan 2007   2086 MW

"Net load" is the total of "net generated power" for
  all generating plants within the system.
"Net generated power," for an individual generator or power plant,
  is the gross generated power less "station service."
"Gross generated power" is the measured power output at the
  terminals of the generator, either for an individual generator
  or for several generators within one plant.
"Station service" is the electric power consumed by equipment
  within the generating plant itself. For hydro plants,
  station service is minimal: a few kilowatts to run the pump
  to provide pressurized oil for the governor, a small air
  compressor, and the plant lights. For coal-fired steam power
  plants, station service consumes as much as eight percent of
  the generated power, for power to drive conveyor belts, to
  pulverize the coal, to pump large quantities of cooling water,
  to drive the forced draft and induced draft fans, lighting,
  and all the other equipment needed to operate the plant.
Note: The load on an electric power system is controlled by the
  customers or consumers, not by the electric utility company.




Nova Scotia Steel & Coal Company Limited
Cape Breton County: Sydney Mines

NSL 1902 chapter 178 — Act relating to Electric Light by the Nova Scotia Steel & Coal Co. Ltd.





Nova Scotia Tramways & Power Company Limited
        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr20.html

From 1919 to 1924, Nova Scotia Tramways & Power Co. was under the management of Stone & Webster Inc., Boston.

In 1924, Isaac Walton Killam, through the Royal Securities Corporation, bought control of Nova Scotia Tramways & Power Co.

In 1928, Nova Scotia Tramways & Power Company Limited changed its name to Nova Scotia Light & Power Company Limited.





NS Power Holdings Incorporated
See: An Act to Permit the Corporate Reorganization of Nova Scotia Power Incorporated December 1998
    http://www.canlii.org/ns/laws/sta/1998c.19/20041004/whole.html

Also see: Emera Inc.
Also see: Nova Scotia Power Inc.
On 17 July 2000, the company name NS Power Holdings Inc. was changed to Emera Inc.

NS Power Holdings Incorporated (NSH), a holding company, was incorporated on 23 July 1998. (A holding company owns shares of other companies. That's all it does. A holding company does not own any physical assets and does not operate any business. NSH owns no generating plants, no transmission lines, and produces no electricity. NSH owns NSPI, and NSPI owns the generating plants and transmission lines, and produces the electricity.)

Effective 1 January 1999, the common shareholders of Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI) exchanged all of their common shares for common shares of NS Power Holdings Inc. on a one-for-one basis.

Nova Scotia Power Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Emera Inc., is the dominant electricity supplier in Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia Power has 440,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers, and assets totaling $2,800,000,000. NSP's operations are regulated by the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board, and include approximately 97% of the generation, 99%of the transmission and 95%of the distribution of electric power throughout Nova Scotia.

The wholly-owned subsidiaries of NS Power Holdings, in January 2000, were:
    Nova Scotia Power Inc.
    Enercom Inc.
    NSP Pipeline Inc.
    NSP U.S. Holdings Inc.
    Strait Energy Inc.
    NS Power Services Inc., and
    Stellarton Basin Coal Gas Inc. (SBCGI).

NSP Pipeline Inc. and NSP U.S. Holdings Inc. own a 12.5% equity investment in Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, which is regulated by the National Energy Board (NEB) in Canada and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in the U.S. Enercom Inc. is an unregulated subsidiary which has expanded NSH's energy product line to include distribution of a full range of fuel oil products.

Sources:
The Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 18 and 23 February 2000
and SEDAR   http://www.sedar.com/








Sources:
Nova Scotia Registry of Joint Stock Companies [RJSC]
    http://www.gov.ns.ca/bacs/rjsc/
and SEDAR   http://www.sedar.com/




C. O'Dell Electric Light Company Limited
Annapolis County

NSL 1898 chapter 149 — Act to incorporate the C. O'Dell Electric Light Co. Ltd.
NSL 1898 chapter 170 — Amendment





Oxford Electric Company Limited




Oxford Electric Light & Power Company Limited




Oxford Water & Power Supply Company Limited

NSL 1896 chapter 97 — Act to incorporate the Oxford Water & Power Supply Co. Ltd.
NSL 1899 chapter 92 — Act to authorize the Village of Oxford to purchase the Water Works of the Oxford Water & Power Supply Co. Ltd.





Cyril L. Parks
Service area: In Hants County, Noel

In a report dated 12 October 1934, the PUB wrote: Cyril L. Parks, "is the owner of a shingle mill at Noel, and in response to the requests of the people of the Village of Noel, he has entered upon the business of supplying electric energy to the public, and therefore has become a public utility..."




Paradise Electric Company Limited

The Paradise Electric Co. was incorporated on 22 May 1920.




Paradise West Electric Light Company Limited
Service area: In Annapolis County, Paradise West and vicinity.

On 10 November 1922, the Paradise West EL Co. received approval to issue 45 shares of common stock of par value $100.00 each, to raise $4500 to pay the cost of construction of a transmission line and electrical distribution system.




Peoples' Heat & Light Company Limited

NSL 1893 chapter 157 — Act to incorporate the Peoples' Heat & Light Co. Ltd.
NSL 1895 chapter 137 —
NSL 1896 chapter 102 —
NSL 1897 chapter 90 —
NSL 1897 chapter 91 —
NSL 1897 chapter 92 — Act respecting amalgamation of Halifax Gas Light Co. with the Peoples' Heat & Light Co.
NSL 1898 chapter 159 —
NSL 1899 chapter 162 —
NSL 1900 chapter 164 —

Also see: Halifax Electric Tramway Co. Ltd.
Also see: Halifax Gas Light Co.
Also see: Halifax Gas Light & Water Co.




Pereaux Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Service area: In Kings County, (northeast from Canning) "the School Sections of Upper Pereaux, Middle Pereaux, Lower Pereaux, Blomidon, and Medford, and districts thereto adjacent not at present (1934) supplied with electric power."  The Pereaux EL&P Company never generated electric power, it bought its electricity wholesale from the Canning Water Commission's electric system, which got its electricity from Avon River Power Company's generating station at Stivers Falls on the Gaspereau River.

The Pereaux Electric Light & Power Company was incorporated in 1934.  On 19 November 1934, the Pereaux EL&P Co. was authorized to issue 30 common shares at a par value of $100.00 each, to raise $3,000 to pay for construction of a transmission line and electrical distribution system.

— Source: PUB Annual Report 1934


As of 28 March 1935, the total capital expenditure was $4,181.62, "and it appears that this is a reasonable expenditure considering the amount of work done."  On this date, the Pereaux EL&P Co. had fifteen customers connected and taking electric power, 13 domestic (residential) and two commercial customers; fourteen of these customers were shareholders in the company.  The largest commercial customer was the British Canadian Fruit Association.

— Source: PUB Annual Report 1935, pages 46 and 47


On 13 May 1935, the Pereaux EL&P Co. got official approval for its schedule of rates:

Pereaux Electric Light & Power
Company

May 1935


ITEM DESCRIPTION PRICE
PER kW·h
Domestic (Residential) Service
Service charge: $1.66 per month  
Energy charge: First 10 kW·h
per month:
All over 10 kW·h
per month:
13.4 ¢
6.6 ¢
Minimum bill: $2.77 per month  
Commercial Lighting
Service charge: $2.22 per month
per kilowatt
of connected load
 
Energy charge: All usage 6.6 ¢
Minimum bill: $3.33 per month,
or the service charge,
whichever is the greater
 
A discount of ten per cent shall be allowed
on bills paid on or before the tenth day
of the month in which they become payable.

Source: Public Utilities Board Annual Report 1935

On 21 August 1941, the Public Utilities Board gave official approval for the sale of the Pereaux Electric Light & Power Company to the Avon River Power Company of Windsor, then a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nova Scotia Light & Power Company of Halifax. The sale price was $3,250.
See note 3

— Source: PUB Annual Report 1941, pages 82-88




From the monthly Canning Gazette, issue #106, November 1996:
Remember a few months back we asked if anyone knew of the Pereaux Electric Light & Power Company? We were able to find out, from an elderly gentleman of great storytelling and farming skills, that the venture was started by a man named Hewitt, who lived over on the North Medford Road. We were able to locate his son, who now lives in Germany, and have written to him inquiring if he has any knowledge or memory of this business.

In May 2005, research in the PUB records in Halifax turned up this: Mr. Francis J. Hewett was President and Managing Director of the Pereaux EL&P Co. in 1934 and 1935 (beyond 1935 is unknown).





Pictou Gas Light Company   (incorporated 1846)

NSL 1846 chapter 41 — Act to incorporate the Pictou Gas Light Co.
NSL 1851 chapter 10 — Amendment





Pictou Gaslight Company Limited   (incorporated 1885)

NSL 1885 chapter 110 — Act to incorporate the Pictou Gaslight Co. Ltd.





Pictou County Electric Company Limited
        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr06.html

Photograph: Pictou County Electric Company's car barn with streetcars
    http://www.parl.ns.ca/projects/industry/Business-Factory/PictouCoElect40.jpg





Polsky Energy Corporation of Brooklyn Incorporated
Generating plant location: Brooklyn, Queens County
Also see: Brooklyn Energy Limited Partnership



Port Hawkesbury Electric Company Limited

NSL 1892 chapter 162 — Act to incorporate the Port Hawkesbury Electric Co. Ltd.





Port Hood Development Company




Port LaTour Telephone Company Limited
Also distributed and sold electric power




Pugwash Electric, Limited
Act to Incorporate PEL passed in 1924




Randville Electric Light Company Limited




Leonard Rodenizer
Also see: Sherbrooke Electric Company




Sackville River Electric Company Limited

NSL 1914 chapter 187 — Act conferring certain powers on the Sackville River Electric Co. Ltd.

On 25 February 1935, official approval was given by the PUB for the Sackville River Electric Co. to sell its entire property, assets and undertaking to the Nova Scotia Light & Power Co. Ltd.





St. Croix Paper Company Limited

NSL 1897 chapter   96 — Act to incorporate the St. Croix Paper Co. Ltd.
NSL 1899 chapter 169 — Amendment
NSL 1910 chapter 169 — Amendment





Seaboard Power Corporation Limited




Sheffield Mills Light & Power Company Limited
Kings County, Sheffield Mills and vicinity

On 7 November 1922, the Sheffield Mills L&P Co. received approval from the PUB to issue 120 shares of common stock of par value $50.00 each, to raise $6000 for construction of a power distribution line. In 1931, the Sheffield Mills L&P Co. was sold to the Avon River Power Company.





Shelburne Electric Company Limited
Shelburne County

NSL 1903 chapter 185 — Act to incorporate the Shelburne Electric Co. Ltd.





Shelburne Power Company Limited
Shelburne County

NSL 1900 chapter 151 — Act to incorporate the Shelburne Power Co. Ltd.





Sherbrooke Electric Company Limited
Guysborough County: Village of Sherbrooke and vicinity

Approval issued by the PUB on 16 April 1934 to "Leonard Rodenizer doing business as the Sherbrooke Electric Company", engaged in the business of generating and distributing electric power to the public in the Village of Sherbrooke; Streetlighting Rate, operating from Twilight to Midnight, 60 watt lamps installed, maintained, and renewed by Sherbrooke Electric Co., $12.00 per lamp per year.





Somerset Electric Light & Power Company Limited




South Berwick Electric Light Company Limited




South Shore Power Services Incorporated
Also see: Brooklyn Power Corporation



Standard Engineering Company Limited

PUB reported that, as of 20 December 1909 the Standard Engineering Co. of Maccan in Cumberland County, supplied electricity to a "few houses" in Chignecto, Maccan, River Hebert, and Joggins.





Stewiacke Electric Light & Power Company Limited




Stone & Webster
Stone & Webster Management Association   1907
Stone & Webster Management Division   1917
Stone & Webster Incorporated   1929
Stone & Webster Service Corporation   1929
Stone & Webster Management Consultants Inc.   1968

Also see: Cape Breton Electric Tramway & Power Co.
Also see: Cape Breton Electric Co. Ltd.

No adequate history of the electric power industry in Nova Scotia can be written without prominent mention of Stone & Webster. In the 1920s and 1930s, Stone & Webster had important financial and management associations with several Nova Scotia electric utility companies.

For most of its existence the Cape Breton Electric Tramway & Power Co. was a direct subsidiary of the Stone & Webster traction empire.

From 1919 to 1924, Nova Scotia Tramways & Power Co. was under the management of Stone & Webster. (In 1928, Nova Scotia Tramways & Power Co. changed its name to Nova Scotia Light & Power Co.)

In 1887, Frank J. Sprague demonstrated the first electric streetcar in Richmond, Virginia. His invention, known as electric traction, offered a new, much cleaner — compared to the horse-drawn streetcar services widely used until Sprague's new technology offered a reliable alternative — and more efficient way to move people which, combined with the safety elevator, would permit much denser urban development. It also created one of the first commercially profitable uses for electric power, preceding the spread of electric lighting, industrial machinery, and domestic appliances.

Urban and interurban electric railways played a major part in defining early twentieth century transportation routes and growth patterns throughout North America, at a time when highways were primitive. Two interurban electric railways were built in Nova Scotia in the early 1900s — the Egerton Tramway Company, incorporated 27 March 1902, built an electric streetcar line in Pictou County, Trenton - New Glasgow - Stellarton - Westville; and the Cape Breton Electric Tramway & Power Company, incorporated 30 March 1900, built a high-speed electric interurban line between Sydney and Glace Bay. (There were serious plans made to build other electric railways in Nova Scotia, including a line between Halifax and Bedford along the west side of Bedford Basin, a line between Halifax and Lunenburg, and the Blomidon Railway Company Limited planned a line from Wolfville through Canning to Scots Bay, but financing problems caused delays which ultimately defeated these proposals.)

At this time, streetcar services and most other utilities were privately financed and owned, although their performance was subject to charters or franchises granted by cities and other local governments. The rapid multiplication of uncoordinated streetcar and interurban lines in the late nineteenth century begged for consolidation. This was initially achieved by the giant Stone & Webster Management Company, founded in Boston by engineer-entrepreneurs Edward Sibley Webster and Charles Augustus Stone, the central figures in the prestigious Boston engineering firm of Stone & Webster, the most famous enterprise of its kind in North America. They attracted large amounts of capital for acquisition and/or development of urban utilities and transportation systems across the United States and Canada.

Stone & Webster and its backers wielded control through an array of interlocking holding and operating companies. By 1910, the company was widely known as "The Electric Octopus."

In the United States, federal anti-trust regulators pulled the plug on Stone & Webster's giant utility cartel in 1934.

Charles A. Stone (1867-1941) met his lifelong friend and partner, Edwin Webster (1867-1950), while they were studying electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon graduation, they followed the advice of a professor and rather than set up shop together, Stone worked for welding and manufacturing companies while Webster took up with Kidder, Peabody, & Company, a financial services organization. Their parents provided seed money in 1889, and they formed a consulting firm, the Massachusetts Electrical Engineering Company, whose first client was a paper mill in Maine in need of a hydroelectric plant for its power.

Public utilities seemed a logical niche for the firm, and they began managing them in 1895, financing them in 1902 through an in-house securities department, and constructing them throughout the firm's history. By 1912 the firm had 600 consultants housed in an 8-story building, yet Stone and Webster retained adjoining desks and jointly signed their letters.

What we know today (1999) as Stone & Webster Consultants came into being on 30 September 1907 as Stone & Webster Management Association. In 1917 Consultants became the Management Division, and in mid-1929 changed names again to become Stone & Webster Service Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary but a separate entity from Stone & Webster. Its primary responsibility remained management services for utility companies, but it expanded in areas of general advisory services for the operation and development of transportation, natural gas transmission, and manufacturing. It remained that way through October 1, 1968, when, to better reflect its evolving services to client companies, it became the Stone & Webster Management Consultants, Inc. (also called Stone & Webster Consultants).

New York, May 9, 2000 — The New York Stock Exchange announced today that trading in the common stock of Stone & Webster Incorporated will be suspended immediately. Following suspension, application will be made to the Securities and Exchange Commission to delist the issue. The Exchange's action is being taken in view of the fact that the Company announced on Monday, May 8, 2000 that it signed a letter of intent to sell substantially all of its assets and that it intends to file a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in connection with such sale...
See: New York Times, 10 May 2000

Sources:
    http://www.stoneandwebster.com/stoneweb/history/main.html
    http://www.historylink.org/output.CFM?file_ID=2667
    http://www.blancmange.net/tmh/articles/hogisle.html
    http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0772572.html
    http://www.iwon.com/home/careers/company_profile/0,15623,84,00.html
    http://www.eci-online.org/visitors/memdir/mem-ston.html
    http://www.nyse.com/press/NT0005E73A.html


References:
Stone & Webster websites
    http://www.swec.com/engineering/index.htm
    http://www.swec.com/engineering/power/index.htm
    http://www.stoneweb.com/whatsnew/index.htm
    http://www.stoneweb.com/management/index.htm
    http://www.stoneandwebster.com/stoneweb/index.html
    http://www.stoneandwebster.com/stoneweb/services/technology/regulate.html
    http://www.stoneandwebster.com/stoneweb/services/energy/des.html





Suburban Electric Company Limited

NSL 1901 chapter 137 — Act to incorporate the Suburban Development Co. Ltd.
NSL 1903 chapter 211 — Act to incorporate the Suburban Electric Co. Ltd.
NSL 1903 chapter 239 —





Sydney Gas Company

NSL 1872 chapter 95 — Act to incorporate the Sydney Gas Co.





Sydney Gas & Electric Light Company Limited

NSL 1882 chapter   84 — Act to incorporate the Sydney Gas & Electric Light Co. Ltd.
NSL 1888 chapter 125 — Act to incorporate anew





Sydney & Glace Bay Railway Company Limited

Effective 26 March 1910: For electric power supplied by Sydney and Glace Bay Railway Co. to Gazette Publishing Company Limited, a "special power rate granted by reason of the fact that the Town of Glace Bay's municipal electric plant provides no day service, 12¢ per kilowatt hour".

(This power likely was 600 volts DC, taken directly from the overhead trolly wire. Direct current was ideal for running a printing press.)





Sydney Mines Electric Light Company Limited




Sydney Mines Electric Company Limited
Also see: Eastern Light & Power Co. Ltd.

The Sydney Mines Electric Co. Ltd. reported that, during the year 1912, its operating revenue was $12,165 and operating expenses were $9,087, and it paid $300 in taxes.
Source: PUB Annual Report 1912-13

By Order In Council dated 9 June 1931, the name of the Sydney Mines Electric Co. Ltd. was changed to Eastern Light & Power Co. Ltd., with head office in Sydney.




James W. Taylor

NSL 1919 chapter 90 — Act to authorize the Town of Antigonish to guarantee to James W. Taylor, owner of Electric Plant, a credit to assist him, etc.





Truro Electric Company

NSL 1887 chapter 108 — Act to incorporate the Truro Electric Co.
NSL 1889 chapter 130 — Act relating to the purchase of the Truro Electric Co. by the Chambers Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1894 chapter 101 —

        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr13.html
Also see: Chambers Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.




Truro Gas Light Company

NSL 1875 chapter 108 — Act to incorporate the Truro Gas Light Co.





Waterford Public Utilities Limited




Waterville & Cambridge Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Kings County

NSL 1922 chapter 135 — Act to incorporate the Waterville & Cambridge Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.





Welsbach Incandescent Gas Light Company Limited

NSL 1889 chapter 131 — Act to incorporate the Welsbach Incandescent Gas Light Co. Ltd.
NSL 1892 chapter 183 — Amendment
NSL 1895 chapter 135 — Amendment





Western Nova Scotia Electric Company Limited
Yarmouth County
        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr05.html




Westport Electric Light, Heating & Power Company Limited
Digby County: Westport and vicinity

NSL 1923 chapter 144 — Act to incorporate the Westport Electric Light, Heating & Power Co. Ltd.





Windsor Electric Light & Power Company Limited
Hants County

NSL 1889 chapter 127 — Act to incorporate the Windsor Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1890 chapter 182 — Amendment
NSL 1895 chapter 132 — Amendment

        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr03.html



In 1925, the PUB reported, in connection with the Gaspereaux River LH&P Co., that "early records of the Windsor company were destroyed in the Windsor fire of 1897".





Windsor Gas Light Company
Hants County

NSL 1874 chapter 84 — Act to incorporate the Windsor Gas Light Co.

        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr03.html




Windsor Kerosene Gas Light Company
Hants County

NSL 1852 chapter 44 — Act to incorporate the Windsor Kerosene Gas Light Co.





Wolfville Electric Light Company Limited
Kings County




Woodside Electric Light Company Limited
Service area: In Kings County, Woodside and vicinity (about three km northwest from Canning)

NSL 1920 chapter 150 — Act to authorize the inhabitants of Woodside to supply themselves with a system of Street Lighting

The Woodside EL Company never generated electric power, it bought its electricity wholesale from the Canning Water Commission's electric system.

On 21 August 1941, the Public Utilities Board gave official approval for the sale of Woodside Electric Light Company to the Avon River Power Company of Windsor, then a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nova Scotia Light & Power Company of Halifax. The sale price was $800.
Source: Public Utilities Board Annual Report, 1941, pages 82-88

See note 3




Yarmouth Electric Company Limited
        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr05.html




Yarmouth Fuel & Gas Company Limited

NSL 1914 chapter 190 — Act to incorporate the Yarmouth Fuel & Gas Co.
NSL 1916 chapter 121 — Amendment





Yarmouth Gas Light Company   (incorporated 1882)

NSL 1882 chapter 89 — Act to incorporate the Yarmouth Gas Light Co.

        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr05.html




Yarmouth Gas Light Company Limited   (incorporated 1888)

NSL 1888 chapter 127 — Act to incorporate the Yarmouth Gas Light Co. Ltd.
NSL 1895 chapter 134 — Amendment
NSL 1903 chapter 177 — Amendment

        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr05.html




Yarmouth Light & Power Company Limited

NSL 1919 chapter 162 — Act respecting the Yarmouth Light & Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1921 chapter 199 — Amendment

        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr05.html




Yarmouth Street Railway Company Limited

NSL 1887 chapter  93 — Act to incorporate the Yarmouth Street Railway Co. Ltd.
NSL 1889 chapter 124 — Amend, limiting time for commencement of construction
NSL 1890 chapter 191 — Amend, extending time
NSL 1892 chapter 176 — Amend, as to quality of rails
NSL 1892 chapter 182 — Amend, further extending time
NSL 1893 chapter 186 — Amendments
NSL 1904 chapter 145 — Act to consolidate Acts relating to the Yarmouth Street Railway Co. Ltd.
NSL 1908 chapter 139 — Amendment
NSL 1912 chapter 243 — Amendment

        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr05.html




Zwicker Electric Power Company Limited
Lunenburg County: New Germany and vicinity

In November 1944, the Zwicker EP Co. sold its electric power system to the Nova Scotia Power Commission.




The Nova Scotia Water Act
Chapter 5 of the Acts of 1919





Government-Owned Electric Utilities
Provincial and Municipal





Town of Amherst
Cumberland County




Town of Annapolis Royal
Annapolis County

NSL 1902 chapter   61 — Act authorizing the Town of Annapolis Royal to borrow money to extend Electric Light System
NSL 1903 chapter 118 — Act authorizing the Town of Annapolis Royal to borrow money for Electric Light System
NSL 1922 chapter   63 — Act authorizing the Town of Annapolis Royal to borrow money for Electric Light System, etc.





Town of Antigonish
Antigonish County
Also see Municipal Electric Utilities of Nova Scotia Co-operative Ltd




Aylesford Electric Light Commission
Kings County

NSL 1919 chapter 129 — Act authorizing the inhabitants of Aylesford to supply themselves with Electric Light and Power for public and domestic (residential) use





Barrington Municipality
Shelburne County

NSL 1918 chapter 73 — Act authorizing the inhabitants of Barrington to supply themselves with Electric Light

Also see: Barrington Electric Co. Ltd.




Bear River
Annapolis/Digby Counties

NSL 1909 chapter   64 — Act authorizing the inhabitants of Bear River to supply themselves with Street Lighting
NSL 1910 chapter   63 — Amendment
NSL 1911 chapter   14 — Amendment
NSL 1912 chapter 156 — Amendment





Bedford
Halifax County

NSL 1919 chapter 130 — Act authorizing the inhabitants of Bedford to supply themselves with Street Lighting





Town of Berwick
Kings County

NSL 1913 chapter 131 — Act respecting Electric Lighting, etc.
NSL 1914 chapter   89 — Amendment
NSL 1917 chapter 145 — Amendment
NSL 1918 chapter   74 — Amendment
NSL 1920 chapter 147 — Amendment
NSL 1921 chapter 125 — Amendment
NSL 1922 chapter 108 — Amendment
NSL 1923 chapter 114 — Amendment

Also see: Light & Water Commission for the Town of Berwick
Also see: Municipal Electric Utilities of Nova Scotia Co-operative Ltd.




Light & Water Commission for the Town of Berwick
Kings County

NSL 1913 chapter 131 — Act respecting Electric Lighting, etc. in the Town of Berwick

Also see: Town of Berwick

The Berwick L&W Commission was incorporated by chapter 131 of the Acts of 1913, and operated an electric utility system in and near Berwick 1913 - 1924.




Berwick Electric Commission
Kings County

The Berwick Electric Commission, owned by the Town of Berwick, serves the residents of Berwick and the surrounding areas of Hall Road, Lawrence Road, Rainforth Road, Taylor Road, and Windermere Road...




Bible Hill
Colchester County

NSL 1919 chapter 131 — Act authorizing the inhabitants of Bible Hill to supply themselves with Street Lighting





Birch Grove Electric Light District
Cape Breton County




Town of Bridgetown
Annapolis County

NSL 1893 chapter 68 — Act to authorize the inhabitants to supply themselves with Street Lighting
NSL 1896 chapter 40 — Act to legalize the Assessment Rolls of the Electric Light District
NSL 1898 chapter 75 —

Also see: Bridgetown Electric Light Co. Ltd.
Also see: Bridgetown Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Bridgetown Electric Light, Heat & Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Bridgetown Water, Power & Light Co. Ltd.

The ratepayers of Bridgetown, at a meeting called for the purpose of voting upon the purchase of the electric light system of that town on Tuesday evening [25 May, 1909 ?], decided by a vote of 17 for and 4 against, the sum of $25,000. A vote of $20,000 was passed, and Mr. Beckwith, representing the electric light company, has declined to accept. The town is without lights, except lamps and candles.
Source: The Digby Weekly Courier, 4 June 1909, (reprinted from the Yarmouth Herald)   [This item is not altogether clear about the amount of money, but the above is the complete text as printed in The Digby Weekly Courier.]


The street lighting question, which has been perturbing the citizens of Bridgetown for so many weeks, is at last settled and the town will install its own lighting system.
Source: The Digby Weekly Courier, 18 June 1909




Town of Bridgewater
Lunenburg County

NSL 1900 chapter   93 — Act to provide for Electric Light and Water supply for the Town of Bridgewater
NSL 1904 chapter 108 — Act to authorize the Town of Bridgewater to borrow money for Electric Light and Water
NSL 1907 chapter 125 — Act to authorize the Town of Bridgewater to borrow money to improve the Electric Light system
NSL 1909 chapter   65 — Amendment
NSL 1921 chapter   89 — Act to authorize the Town of Bridgewater to borrow money for Electric Power system

Also see: Bridgewater Electric Light, Water, & Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Bridgewater Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Public Service Commission of Bridgewater




Public Service Commission of Bridgewater
Lunenburg County: Bridgewater and vicinity
Also see: Town of Bridgewater




Caledonia Power and Water Board
Cape Breton County: Glace Bay

NSL 1941 chapter   62 —
NSL 1941 chapter   68 —
NSL 1951 chapter 119 —





Water Commissioners of the Village of Canning
Kings County: Canning and vicinity
Historical notes about the Canning Water Commissioners
      http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr11.html

NSL 1894 chapter   59 —
NSL 1919 chapter 132 —
NSL 1921 chapter 126 —
NSL 1922 chapter 109 —
NSL 1923 chapter 115 —

Also see: Canning Water & Electric Light, Heating & Power Co. Ltd.

The Canning Water Commission never generated electric power. Until 1926, it bought its electricity wholesale from the Gaspereaux River Light, Heat & Power Company. After the Gaspereaux River LH&P Company was sold to the Avon River Power Company in 1926, the Avon River Power Co. became the supplier of electricity to the Canning Water Commission (but the hardware – generating plant and transmission line – remained the same).

On 28 August 1941, the Public Utilities Board gave official approval for the sale of the electric power system operated by the Canning Water Commission to the Avon River Power Company of Windsor, then a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nova Scotia Light & Power Company of Halifax. The sale price was $11,000.
Source: Public Utilities Board Annual Report, 1941

See note 3




Town of Canso
Guysborough County: Canso and vicinity

NSL 1914 chapter 96 — Act to authorize the Town of Canso to borrow money for Electric Lighting
NSL 1917 chapter 97 — Amendment
NSL 1919 chapter 92 — Amendment
NSL 1919 chapter 93 — Amendment

Also see Municipal Electric Utilities of Nova Scotia Co-operative Ltd.




Municipality of the County of Cape Breton
Cape Breton County




Village of Chester
Lunenburg County

NSL 1912 chapter 176 — Act to authorize the Village of Chester supply Electric Light, etc.
NSL 1913 chapter 135 — Amendment





Municipality of the District of Clare
Digby County




Town of Clark's Harbour
Shelburne County

NSL 1921 chapter 92 — Act to authorize the Town of Clark's Harbour to borrow money to install an Electric Light Plant





Town of Dartmouth
Halifax County

NSL 1899 chapter 71 — Act to authorize the Town of Dartmouth to operate the Electric Light Plant





Town of Digby
Digby County

NSL 1876 chapter   56 — Act to provide for Lighting the streets of the Town of Digby
NSL 1912 chapter 105 — Act to authorize the Town of Digby to acquire Electric Light Plant, etc.
NSL 1922 chapter   66 — Amendment

Also see: Digby Electric Light Co. Ltd.

On 14 June 1922, the Digby Electric Light Co. Ltd. received official approval from the PUB to sell the whole of its undertaking to the Town of Digby.
Source: PUB Annual Report 1922




Digby County Power Board
Digby County
Nova Scotia: Digby County Power Board, 1940
Advertisement by The Digby County Power Board
The Tiny Tattler, 9 May 1940
Source: http://www.tinytattler.com/





Municipality of Digby
Digby County




Town of Dominion
Cape Breton County

NSL 1909 chapter 77 — Act to authorize the Town of Dominion to borrow for Light and Water purposes
NSL 1909 chapter 78 — Act to authorize the Town of Glace Bay to supply Electricity to the Town of Dominion





Village of Eureka
Pictou County

NSL 1913 chapter 136 — Act respecting Street Lighting in Eureka





Village of Florence
Cape Breton County

NSL 1921 chapter 134 — Act to authorize Cape Breton Municipality to levy a special tax for Electric Light on the Village of Florence





Town of Glace Bay
Cape Breton County

NSL 1901 chapter   88 — Act to provide for supplying the Town of Glace Bay with Electric Light
NSL 1902 chapter   79 — Amendment
NSL 1904 chapter   69 — Act to authorize the Town of Glace Bay to borrow money for Electric Light, etc.
NSL 1905 chapter   65 — Act to authorize the Town of Glace Bay to borrow money for Electric Light
NSL 1905 chapter   66 — Amendment
NSL 1906 chapter   81 — Amendment
NSL 1906 chapter   83 — Act to authorize the Town of Glace Bay to borrow money for Electric Light
NSL 1908 chapter   92 — Amendment
NSL 1909 chapter   78 — Act to authorize the Town of Glace Bay to supply Electricity to the Town of Dominion
NSL 1910 chapter   69 — Amendment
NSL 1912 chapter 106 — Amendment
NSL 1917 chapter 100 — Act to authorize the Town of Glace Bay to borrow money to buy Electric Meters
NSL 1920 chapter 108 — Act relating to Lighting System
NSL 1920 chapter 113 — Act to authorize the Town of Glace Bay to borrow money for Electric Meters
NSL 1923 chapter   76 — Act to authorize the Town of Glace Bay to borrow money for Electric Light and other purposes





Granville Ferry
Annapolis County

NSL 1920 chapter 148 — Act to authorize the inhabitants of Granville Ferry to levy a special tax for electric light





City of Halifax

NSL 1845 chapter 30 — Act to provide for Lighting the City with Gas
NSL 1864 chapter 64 — Act relating to the Inspection of Gas
NSL 1917 chapter 88 — Act to authorize the City of Halifax to hold shares in the Halifax Power Co. Ltd. and to lend money thereto
NSL 1919 chapter 83 — Act to authorize and confirm agreement between City of Halifax and the Halifax Power Co. Ltd.
NSL 1919 chapter 84 — Amendment

Also see: Halifax Power Co. Ltd.




Municipality of Halifax County

NSL 1913 chapter 142 — Act to ratify resolution passed by Municipal Council respecting erection of poles on public highways





Town of Hantsport
Kings/Hants County

NSL 1914 chapter 99 — Act to authorize the town of Hantsport to borrow money for electric lighting purposes
NSL 1923 chapter 78 — Act to authorize the town of Hantsport to borrow money for electric plant, power and lighting purposes





Hebron Street Lighting Committee
Yarmouth County

NSL 1917 chapter 161 — Act to authorize Hebron to levy tax for electric light
NSL 1918 chapter 113 — Act to authorize Hebron to levy tax for electric light





Town of Kentville
Kings County

NSL 1907 chapter 121 — Act to authorize the town of Kentville to acquire, etc., electric light etc., system
NSL 1918 chapter 109 — Act to authorize the town of Kentville to borrow money for electric light purposes
NSL 1919 chapter   98 — Act to constitute the Kentville Electric Light and Power Commission

        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr08.html
Also see: Kentville Electric Commission
Also see: Kentville Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.




Kentville Electric Commission
Kings County

NSL 1919 chapter 98 — Act to constitute the Kentville Electric Light and Power Commission

        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr08.html
Also see: Kentville Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.
Also see: Municipal Electric Utilities of Nova Scotia Co-operative Ltd.

The Kentville Electric Commission was incorporated under chapter 98 of the Acts of 1919, to distribute and sell electric energy within the Town of Kentville.




Kingston Electric Light Commission
Kings County

In 1931, the Kingston Electric Light Commission's electric power system was sold to the Avon River Power Company.




The Electric Light Commissioners for LaHave
Lunenburg County




The Electric Light Commissioners for the Town of Lawrencetown
Annapolis County, Lawrencetown and vicinity

The Lawrencetown Electric Light Commissioners operated a small hydroelectric generating plant on the Annapolis River, within the town limits; this plant was reported to have been in operation during 1927, and probably before and after that year.




Little Bras d'Or
Cape Breton County

NSL 1917 chapter 133 — Act to authorize Cape Breton Municipality to levy a special poll tax on Little Bras d'Or for Electric Lighting purposes





Town of Liverpool
Queens County

NSL 1899 chapter 117 — Act to provide for supplying the Town of Liverpool with Electric Light





Town of Lockeport
Shelburne County

NSL 1895 chapter 100 — Act to provide for supplying the Town of Lockeport with Electric Light





Town of Louisburg
Cape Breton County

(It was officially spelled "burg" at the time when
the Town operated its own municipal electric utility,
but now the "bourg" spelling is officially used.





Town of Lunenburg
Lunenburg County
Also see Municipal Electric Utilities of Nova Scotia Co-operative Ltd

Town of Lunenburg Electricity Rates (approved in 1993)

Domestic service
Base Charge: $6.31 per month where service is through a two wire service. $6.87 per month where service is through a three wire service.
Energy Charge: 7.8 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 200 kilowatt hours per month. 6.98 cents per kilowatt hour for all additional consumption but in no case shall the average price per kilowatt hour on the whole bill, including the base charge, be less than 7.54 cents in any billing period.
Minimum Net Bill: $6.87 per month where service is through a two or three wire service.

General service light, heat, and power up to 3 kilowatts
Base Charge: $4.60 per month per kilowatt of connected load.
Energy Charge: 8.74 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 100 kilowatt hours per month per kilowatt of connected load. 5.79 cents per kilowatt hour for all additional consumption.
Minimum Net Bill: $8.59 per month or the Base Charge, whichever is the greater.

Light, heat and power over 3 kilowatts
Base Charge: $5.15 per month per kilowatt of maximum demand.
Energy Charge: 8.74 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 100 kilowatt hours per month per kilowatt of maximum demand. 5.79 cents per kilowatt hour for all additional consumption.
Minimum Net Bill: $15.15 per month or the Base Charge, whichever is the greater.

Installation of 250 kilowatts or over
Base Charge: $6.10 per month per kilowatt of maximum demand.
Energy Charge: 7.41 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 100 kilowatt hours per month per kilowatt of maximum demand. 5.25 cents per kilowatt hour for all additional consumption.
Minimum Net Bill: $6.10 per month per kilowatt of maximum demand.

Industrial – (4,000 KVA and over) off the 69 kilovolt line
Demand Charge: $7.05 per month per kilovolt ampere of maximum demand of the current month or the maximum actual demand of the previous November, December, January or February occurring in the previous eleven months. 30 cents per kilowatt (sic) ampere reduction in demand charge where substation is owned by the customer.
Energy Charge: 4.33 cents per kilowatt hour.
Minimum Monthly Charge: The minimum monthly charge shall be the maximum demand charge.




Town of Mahone Bay
Lunenburg County
Also see Municipal Electric Utilities of Nova Scotia Co-operative Ltd




Town of Middleton
Annapolis County
In 1931, the Town of Middleton's electric power system was sold to the Avon River Power Company.




Morien No. 12
Cape Breton County

NSL 1919 chapter 122 — Act to authorize Cape Breton Municipality to levy a special tax on a portion of Morien No. 12 District for providing Electric Light
NSL 1922 chapter   97 — Amendment





Town of Mulgrave
Guysborough County




Municipal Electric Utilities of Nova Scotia Co-operative Ltd.
        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr10.html




Nova Scotia Water Power Commission




Nova Scotia Power Commission

In November 1944, the NSPC bought the electric power system operated by the Zwicker Electric Power Company in New Germany.

In 1967, the Nova Scotia Power Commission acquired the shares of Eastern Light & Power Company Limited.

In 1972, the Nova Scotia Power Commission acquired 99.65% of the common shares and approximately 98% of the preferred shares of Nova Scotia Light & Power Company Limited. The balance of the shares was acquired a year or so later.
Source:   Canada v. Nova Scotia Power Inc., 2003 Federal Court of Appeal 33
Background information contained in the judgment delivered at Ottawa, Ontario, on 23 January 2003
  http://www.canlii.org/ca/cas/fca/2003/2003fca33.html


    NSPC Paycheck Stub, 31 July 1967
  http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electric19670731s.jpg




Nova Scotia Power Corporation   (government-owned)
Also see: Nova Scotia Power Incorporated (a privately-owned company)

Nova Scotia Power Corporation was a crown corporation, owned by the Province of Nova Scotia. NSPC owned and operated most of the electric utility system in the province. On 12 August 1992, Nova Scotia Power Corporation sold all its electric utility assets to Nova Scotia Power Incorporated.




In Nova Scotia, in 1990, there were eight electric utilities, each selling electric power within its own government-defined monopoly territory, and each forbidden to sell electricity in any territory assigned to any other electric utility. The largest of these – by far the largest – was the Nova Scotia Power Corporation (NSPC). The other seven, often called the "independents" (independent of NSPC), were small municipal utilities, but they were genuine electric utilities, each with its own management, its own rate structure, and its own distribution system. The ownership of each of these was wholly independent of all the others. All of these seven independent utilities were decades older than NSPC. Three of the seven were located within Lunenburg County. Among the independents, only Berwick had its own generating plant. The other six bought all their electricity from NSPC at wholesale rates. Berwick also bought much of its electricity from NSPC, because its one small hydroelectric generating plant could supply only a small fraction of Berwick's requirement. The table below reports the electric energy sold by NSPC to each of the independents, for the twelve months ending 31 March 1990.
Nova Scotia Power Corporation
Energy Sold to the
Independent Electric Utilities

12 Months Ending 31 March 1990


Independent
Utility
kW·h $
Town of Antigonish 73,833,786 4,144,939
Berwick Electric Commission 22,560,000 1,252,218
Town of Canso 8,185,600 455,015
Kentville Electric Commission 73,168,740 4,003,130
Town of Lunenburg 49,760,430 2,729,999
Town of Mahone Bay 8,464,937 482,658
Riverport Electric Commission 6,681,600 382,821
Totals 242,655,093 13,450,780
The average price was 5.54¢ per kW·h.
one kW·h   =   3,600,000 J
[Source: 1990 Annual Report, Nova Scotia Power Corporation]




Town of Parrsboro
Service area: in Cumberland County, the Town of Parrsboro and vicinity




Town of Pictou
Service area: in Pictou County, the Town of Pictou and vicinity

In the early 1920s, the Town of Pictou operated a steam generating plant. In 1925, the PUB reported that the Town of Pictou had a special electric rate for the Canadian National Railway, for charging storage batteries; "these batteries are used in the operation of an electric car as a new and experimental service" (a daily commuter service operated by CNR) "between Pictou and New Glasgow".




Pictou County Power Board
Service area: in Pictou County
        Historical Notes   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625electricpwr06.html




Town of Port Hawkesbury
Service area: in Inverness County, the Town of Port Hawkesbury and vicinity




Riverport Electric Light Commission
Service area: in Lunenburg County, Riverport and Vicinity
Also see Municipal Electric Utilities of Nova Scotia Co-operative Ltd.




Town of Shelburne
Service area: in Shelburne County, the Town of Shelburne and vicinity

NSL 1909 chapter 105 — Act to authorize the Town of Shelburne to acquire an Electric Lighting system
NSL 1909 chapter 106 — Amendment
NSL 1913 chapter 111 — Amendment





Shubenacadie
Service area: in Colchester County, Shubenacadie

NSL 1913 chapter 126 — Act to authorize the inhabitants to provide themselves with street lighting





Town of Sydney Mines
Service area: in Cape Breton County, the Town of Sydney Mines and vicinity

NSL 1919 chapter 112 — Act to authorize the Town of Sydney Mines to borrow money for generating Electric Current
NSL 1920 chapter 137 — Amendment





Town of Trenton
Service area: in Pictou County

NSL 1912 chapter 136 — Act to authorize the Town of Trenton to install ... Electric Light
NSL 1923 chapter 102 — Amendment





Town of Truro
See: Truro Electric Commission




Truro Electric Commission
Service area: in Colchester County: Truro, Valley, and vicinity

NSL 1916 chapter   75 — Act to authorize the Town of Truro to install an Electric Light, Heat and Power system
NSL 1917 chapter 128 — Act to constitute an Electric Light Commission
NSL 1917 chapter 129 —
NSL 1919 chapter 114 —
NSL 1920 chapter 142 — To authorize the Town of Truro to borrow money for Electric Light Extension

The electric plant originally owned and operated by Chambers Electric Light & Power Company, was acquired by the Town of Truro on 1 August 1916. The plant as operated by the Chambers Company "consisted of a number of small D.C. generators connected up with a five-wire distribution system". A new A.C. generator was installed at the town pumping station , and was put into service in May 1919. In 1920 an additional generating unit was installed, and in 1922 a boiler was added. This gave a total station capacity, in March 1923, of 675 kVA (about 600 kW), with two water-tube boilers of 400 horsepower each.

The horsepower rating of steam boilers was/is an indirect matter — as compared to the horsepower rating of a steam engine, which was/is a simple matter of determining the torque available at the working speed, then multiplying the torque (foot-pounds) by the speed (rpm) to obtain the engine horsepower rating.

For a steam boiler, the concepts of torque and rotary speed do not apply.

However, for the convenience of sellers and purchasers of steam machinery, in the mid-1800s the practice grew up of stating boiler capacity in horsepower, to make it easier to decide which boiler was needed to supply steam for a chosen engine. The idea was that if you wanted a boiler to produce enough steam for, say, a 200 horsepower engine, you could buy a 200 horsepower boiler (being sure to match the steam pressure of the boiler to that needed by the engine) and the boiler would be large enough to do the job.





Upper Church Street Electric Light Commission
Service area: in Kings County, Church Street (about 3 km northwest from Port Williams)

NSL 1922 chapter 104 — Act to authorize the inhabitants of Upper Church Street to supply themselves with Electric Light





Town of Westville
Service area: in Pictou County, the Town of Westville and vicinity

NSL 1913 chapter 117 — Act to authorize the Town of Westville to install an Electric Light Plant
NSL 1914 chapter 139 —
NSL 1915 chapter   73 —





Village of Weymouth
See: Commissioners for the Village of Weymouth




Commissioners for the Village of Weymouth
Service area: in Digby County, Weymouth and vicinity

NSL 1922 chapter 112 — Act to authorize the inhabitants of the Village of Weymouth to supply themselves with a Street Lighting system
NSL 1922 chapter 113 — Amendment





Town of Wolfville
Service area: in Kings County, Wolfville and vicinity

NSL 1907 chapter 122 — Act to authorize the Town of Wolfville to borrow money for an Electric Light and Power system
NSL 1920 chapter 145 — Act constituting the Wolfville Electric Commission
NSL 1920 chapter 146 — Amendment
NSL 1922 chapter   88 —

Also see: Wolfville Electric Commission




Wolfville Electric Commission
Service area: in Kings County: Wolfville and vicinity

NSL 1920 chapter 145 — Act constituting the Wolfville Electric Commission
NSL 1922 chapter   88 —

Also see: Town of Wolfville

The Wolfville Electric Commission was established on 27 April 1920.




Wood's Harbour
Service area: in Shelburne County, Wood's Harbour and vicinity

NSL 1921 chapter 133 — Act to authorize the inhabitants of Wood's Harbour to supply themselves with Electric Light and Power





Woodside
Service area: in Kings County, Woodside and vicinity

NSL 1920 chapter 150 — Act to authorize the inhabitants of Woodside to supply themselves with a system of Street Lighting

See:   Woodside Electric Light Company Limited




Town of Yarmouth
Yarmouth County

NSL 1877 chapter   65 — Act to provide for lighting the streets of the Town of Yarmouth
NSL 1888 chapter   74 — Act to provide for lighting the streets of the Town of Yarmouth
NSL 1902 chapter 126 — Act to provide for supplying the Town of Yarmouth with Light
NSL 1923 chapter 106 — Act to authorize the Town of Yarmouth to borrow money for Pumping and Lighting Plant





Unless otherwise stated, "Act" means an Act of the Nova Scotia Legislature.
Where it appears above, "NSL" refers to the Nova Scotia Legislature.

In the old days, Acts were often dated not by the calendar year but by the year of reign of the current sovreign. Example: The Act to incorporate the Kerosene Gas Light Company is often listed as "13 Vic. c. 25", meaning chapter (Act) number 25 passed in March 1850, the 13th year of the reign of Queen Victoria. The legislative references above have all been converted to the calendar year, but the reignal year may be needed if you want to look up the original Act. Example: to find the 1840 Act to incorporate the Halifax Gas Light & Water Company you will need to ask for 3 Vic. c. 16. The conversion between a reignal year and a calendar year is not just a simple addition or subtraction, because the beginning of a reign rarely coincides with the beginning of a calendar year.

"3 Wm. IV" means 26 June 1832 to 25 June 1833 "6 Wm. IV" means 26 June 1835 to 25 June 1836
"5 Vic." means 20 June 1841 to 19 June 1842 "10 Vic." means 20 June 1846 to 19 June 1847
"15 Vic." means 20 June 1851 to 19 June 1852 "20 Vic." means 20 June 1856 to 19 June 1857
"25 Vic." means 20 June 1861 to 19 June 1862 "30 Vic." means 20 June 1866 to 19 June 1867
"35 Vic." means 20 June 1871 to 19 June 1872 "40 Vic." means 20 June 1876 to 19 June 1877
"45 Vic." means 20 June 1881 to 19 June 1882 "50 Vic." means 20 June 1886 to 19 June 1887
"55 Vic." means 20 June 1891 to 19 June 1892 "60 Vic." means 20 June 1896 to 19 June 1897
"4 Edw. VII" means 22 Jan. 1904 to 21 Jan. 1905 "8 Edw. VII" means 22 Jan. 1908 to 21 Jan. 1909
"5 Geo. V" means 6 May 1914 to 5 May 1915 "10 Geo. V" means 6 May 1919 to 5 May 1920





Notes



Note 1:

PUB

PUB refers to the Public Utilities Board, the common name for the Board of Commissioners of Public Utilities, its legal name from 1909 to 1992, or after 1992 the Utilities and Review Board.


Note 2:

Information Sources

The above list of Nova Scotia electric companies was compiled mainly from the records of the Public Utilities Board.  Beginning in 1911, and continuing for more than fifty years, the PUB published, in each of its Annual Reports, a list of the electric utilities active in Nova Scotia during the year of the Report.  These annual lists are a highly reliable source of information on this subject, for the years after 1911.  That was the first stage of this project, completed in 1999.
          The second stage of assembling this list of Nova Scotia electric companies consisted of a review of the complete list of Private and Local Acts of Nova Scotia for the years 1758 to 1989, inclusive, and selecting each company which had "Electric" or "Power" or "Light" in its corporate name.  This was the main source for the years before 1911 (before the PUB started work).  This second stage was completed in 2001.
          Those two stages produced most of the above list, but certain other companies have been included:
          In this list I've included all the Nova Scotia gas lighting companies (Yarmouth, Lunenburg, Windsor, Dartmouth, Truro, Pictou, Sydney, ...) I've found, because these tended to be forerunners of electric companies or became electric companies after a few years of operation.
          Also, all known electric streetcar operations (public transit railways) are included, because often there was a close association between streetcar or interurban companies and early electric utilities.  It is a common historical pattern, in Canada and the USA, that companies running streetcar lines — which, beginning in the late 1880s and early 1890s, required large quantities of electric power throughout the day and much of the night — became the source of electric power for early non-streetcar applications, such as street lighting, water pumping, elevators and hoists and conveyor belts, printing presses, and similar purposes.  For many of these purposes, the direct current, easily obtainable from the overhead trolley wire, was ideal, not to mention that the streetcar system had a ready-made distribution system throughout much of the central core of many urban areas.  In the following decades, as streetcar operations slowly declined and other uses of electric power grew, companies which had begun as transit operations slowly metamorphosed into electric utility operations in the modern sense.  For example, throughout the first half of the century, and well into the 1950s, the largest single customer of the Nova Scotia Light & Power Co.'s electric utility division was the NSL&P's transit division, which operated electric-powered streetcars in Halifax until 1948, and then electric-powered trolley coaches on several routes in Halifax and one route to Dartmouth through the 1950s and 1960s.
          Finally, I've included companies known to have had legal authority to generate and/or distribute electric power for users other than the company's own manufacturing or mining work; examples are Acadia Coal Co., Dominion Iron & Steel Co., and Nova Scotia Steel & Coal Co.


Note 3:

Five Small Electric Power Companies Sold
21 August 1941

On 21 August 1941, the Public Utilities Board gave official approval for the sale of five small electric power companies in Kings County, to the Avon River Power Company of Windsor, then a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nova Scotia Light & Power Company of Halifax. The companies, and the sale price of each, were: An individual ruling was given for each company; all five decisions were dated 21 August 1941.  In each case, approval was given for the sale of "all of its property and assets of whatsoever nature and wheresoever situate, including the whole of its undertaking".  None of these companies generated electric power; all five bought their electricity wholesale from the electric utility system operated by the Canning Water Commissioners, which got it from the Avon River Power Company.
Source: Public Utilities Board Annual Report, 1941, pages 82-88

Canning Electric Utility Sold
28 August 1941

On 28 August 1941, the Public Utilities Board gave official approval for the sale of the electric power system, owned and operated by the Canning Water Commission, to the Avon River Power Company. The Canning system was the wholesale supplier of electric power to the five companies sold one week earlier, Habitant, Hillaton, Kingsport, Pereaux, and Woodside. The Canning electric system did not generate electric power, it got its electricity wholesale from the Avon River Power Company at a point north of Port Williams.


Alphabetization

Alphabetization of privately-owned utilities:
The above list of privately-owned electric companies was put in alphabetical order by reading each company name as if all spaces, ampersands, hyphens and commas had been deleted. Where the legal corporate name began/begins with "The", it has been omitted here. "St." is placed according to its full spelling.

Alphabetization of government-owned utilities:
The above list of government-owned electric utilities was ordered according to the geographical part of the name. Examples:
      Public Service Commission of Bridgewater is placed under B
      Water Commissioners of the Village of Canning is placed under C
      Municipality of Digby is placed under D
      City of Halifax is placed under H
      Electric Light Commissioners for LaHave is placed under L
      Town of Port Hawkesbury is placed under P
      Commissioners for the Village of Weymouth is placed under W




Recent Additions to This List

Added 2002 Jun 30: Chipman's Corner Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd.
Added 2002 Jul 02: Hantsport Fruit Basket Co. Ltd.
Added 2002 Jul 26: NS Power Holdings Inc.
Added 2002 Jul 26: Associated Gas & Electric Co.
Added 2002 Jul 26: Stone & Webster
Added 2002 Jul 27: Emera Inc.
Added 2003 Mar 10: Joggins Coal & Railway Co. Ltd.
Added 2004 Feb 17: Berwick Electric Commission
Added 2006 Jun 17: Cape Split Development Company
Added 2006 Aug 27: Black River Hydro Limited


Charging the Customer for Electric Service Lines

Note: The following is the text of a letter to the editor (which was not printed in the newspaper), written in response to a letter published in the Halifax Daily News, May 20th, 1999:

Dear Editor:   In their letter (the Daily News, May 20th, 1999) J--- and C---- Fraser complain about the cost of having the local electric power line extended to serve their new home. They chose to build at a location where electric power was not available, and now expect Nova Scotia Power to extend the line more than half a kilometre without cost to them.

They wrote: "We understand that what they're doing is perfectly legal, since the company privatized several years ago and the Public Utilities Act was revamped..."

Apparently they think this charge is a recent innovation which came into effect in 1992, when NSP was privatized and the Public Utilities Act was rewritten.

In fact, this policy is far older.  For many decades, the practice in Nova Scotia, and throughout North America, has been to charge the homeowner for residential line extensions beyond a certain fixed distance.

The following is quoted directly from the 1958 Annual Report of the Nova Scotia Public Utilities Board, which reported the Board's approval, effective April 14th, 1958, of the Nova Scotia Light & Power Company's rates and regulations.  On page 139 we find: "Service extensions shall be erected, owned and maintained by the Company over a cleared right-of-way provided by the customer.  The length of a service extension shall be the distance from the center of the highway opposite the Company's nearest line pole to the customer's service entrance.  When the use is domestic and the length of the service extension is greater than 300 feet, the customer shall contribute to the cost of the service extension fifteen dollars for each fifty feet, or part thereof, by which the length of the service extension is greater than 300 feet..."

This 1958 rule provided the first 300 feet free of charge.  300 feet converts to 91.4 metres.  In 1999, according to the Frasers' letter, the first 92 metres is free.  The length of the free extension has been unchanged for more than forty years.

This 1958 decision applied to the Nova Scotia Light & Power Company, but the other 27 electric utilities then operating in Nova Scotia all had similar rules for residential line extensions. Space does not allow me to quote them all.

In 1999, Nova Scotia Power Incorporated's rule for residential line extensions, which the Frasers complain of, is identical to the rule in effect for the other six electric utility companies now operating in Nova Scotia.

The Frasers wrote: "We think the public has a right to know..."  The public does know.  For many decades, for all electric utilities in Nova Scotia and throughout North America, these rules have been in effect and on the public record.  They are neither new nor secret nor unfair.

Ivan Smith, Canning, Nova Scotia




The above letter refers to "the other 27 electric utilities" (in addition to NSL&P).
The complete list of 28 electric utilities operating in Nova Scotia in 1958 is as follows:
[G means government-owned;   P means privately owned (non-government)]

  1.   G     Town of Antigonish
  2.   G     Town of Berwick
  3.   G     Public Service Commission of Bridgewater
  4.   G     Caledonia Power and Water Board, Glace Bay
  5.   P     Canada Electric Company Limited
  6.   G     Town of Canso
  7.   G     Municipality of the District of Clare
  8.   G     Digby County Power Board
  9.   G     Town of Digby
10.   G     Town of Dominion
11.   P     Dominion Utilities Company Limited
12.   P     Eastern Light & Power Company Limited
13.   P     Edison Electric Light & Power Company Limited of Springhill
14.   G     Kentville Electric Commission
15.   G     Town of Liverpool
16.   G     Town of Lunenburg
17.   G     Town of Mahone Bay
18.   P     Milton Hydro Electric Company Limited
19.   P     Nova Scotia Light & Power Company Limited
20.   G     Nova Scotia Power Commission
21.   G     Pictou County Power Board
22.   G     Town of Pictou
23.   G     Riverport Electric Light Commission
24.   P     Seaboard Power Corporation Limited
25.   G     Town of Shelburne
26.   G     Truro Electric Commission
27.   P     Western Nova Scotia Electric Company Limited
28.   G     Commissioners for the Village of Weymouth
Source: Public Utilities Board Annual Report, 1958, pages 449-450
(The PUB list omits the Nova Scotia Power Commission, which was exempt from PUB supervision.)





Two new electrical public utilities were organized during the year 1934, namely Cyril L. Parks serving the district of Noel in Hants County, and the Pereaux Electric Light & Power Co. Ltd. serving the district of Pereaux in Kings County... Two electrical public utilities which have operated for a long time in Nova Scotia disappeared during the year 1935, namely Dartmouth Gas, Electric Light, Heating & Power Company Ltd, and Sackville River Electric Company Ltd.
Source: PUB Annual Reports, 1934 and 1935




History of Electricity
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Archived: 2000 October 11
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Archived: 2001 April 15
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Archived: 2001 October 25
http://web.archive.org/web/20011025112727/http://www.electricpower.com/consumer/history.html





History of the Arc Lamp — By about 1910 over 20,000 arcs had been installed in British cities. After this peak there was little further growth, as more efficient types of filament lamp were developed. After 1910 there were few new arc lamp installations, although some remained in service on London streets until the 1950s.
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William Edwards Staite — William Staite made a major contribution to the development of the arc lamp in Britain. He began experimenting with arc lamps in 1834. In 1848 Staite, working with the help of William Petrie, floodlit the portico of the National Gallery in London, and by then the public were getting used to demonstrations of electric light.
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Archived: 2001 February 10
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Arc Lamps of the 1880s — Pictures and descriptions of three examples of typical arc lamps from the 1880s.
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Archived: 1999 May 6
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Archived: 2001 February 10
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Note 3: Terminology:
AC   alternating current
DC   direct current
kV   kilovolt, a measure of electromotive force, or EMF. (EMF is usually called "voltage".)
kVA   kilovolt ampere, a measure of capacity of various kinds of AC equipment, such as transformers and generators. Capacity in kVA is related to power by the "power factor". In typical electric utility systems, the power factor is about 80% to 85%, meaning that the number of kilowatts is 80% to 85% of kVA.
kW   kilowatt, a measure of power
kW·h   kilowatt hour, a measure of energy. There is a problem with the symbol kW·h. The raised dot is included in the official standard symbol for kilowatt hour, but it is often not available in today's typesetting systems. Newspapers, for example, simply do not have this character available and, when reporting on electric power events — rate hearings for example — they must make do without. The raised dot is available in HTML (the entity "·"), but many word-processor software packages do not have it. Probably the best way to work around this lack is to use kWh (as Nova Scotia Power Inc. does on its electric bills).
One kW·h (kilowatt hour)   =   3,600,000 J (joules)




Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 by Ivan C. Smith

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This publication is a work in progress, and the original source should be checked occasionally for updates.




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Archive of This Document:
Nova Scotia Electric Power Companies

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Go To:   History of Telephone Companies in Nova Scotia
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Go To:   History of Railway Companies in Nova Scotia
    http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625railways.html

Go To:   History of Automobiles in Nova Scotia
    http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625automobiles.html

Go To:   Nova Scotia History Index
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