Boston Edison Company

Last updated
Boston Edison Electric Illuminating Company building, built in 1906 Boston Edison Electric Illuminating Company, Boston, Massachusetts.jpg
Boston Edison Electric Illuminating Company building, built in 1906

The Boston Edison Company (BECo) was incorporated as the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Boston in 1886. [1] It was one of the earliest electric utility companies in the United States of America. The company was formally renamed the Boston Edison Company in June 1937, although it had also been previously known by this name informally. [2]

Contents

Electric vehicles

Edward S. Mansfield was placed in charge of BECo's activities in relation to electric vehicles. [3] On 3 April 1911 BECo organised a conference at the Hotel Thorndike, in Boston to encourage closer co-operation between electric vehicle manufacturers and central station managers in the Boston area. Dugald C. Jackson attended and promised the support of MIT in providing scientific research to support the development of the electric vehicle industry. [3]

Disappearance as independent company

In 1999 it was merged with Cambridge Electric Light Company, Commonwealth Electric Company, and NSTAR Gas Company to form NSTAR. [4] After subsequent mergers, what remains of the Boston Edison Company is now part of Eversource Energy. [4]

South Boston power plant

The company operated the L Street Power Plant (now 776 Summer Street) in South Boston, which was constructed in 1898, with the turbine hall constructed in 1903. [5] At the time of decommissioning it belonged to Exelon, which sold it for redevelopment in 2016. The Exelon New Boston Power Plant had been built on the same property without demolishing the original Edison building.

Real estate firms Redgate and Hilco Redevelopment proposed a mixed-use development, which would require the state to release a 2014 deed restriction prohibiting residential construction. The site adjoins Conley Terminal and its haul road (which is the reason for the restriction), and a reserved shipping channel. [6] [7] [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pepco</span> American energy company

The Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) is an American utility company that supplies electric power to the city of Washington, D.C., and to surrounding communities in Maryland. It is owned by Exelon.

NSTAR was a utility company that provided retail electricity and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in eastern and central Massachusetts, including the Boston urban area. NSTAR became a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities in April 2012. In February 2015, Northeast Utilities and all of its operating companies became one large company known as Eversource Energy.

Eversource Energy is a publicly traded, Fortune 500 energy company headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut, and Boston, Massachusetts, with several regulated subsidiaries offering retail electricity, natural gas service and water service to approximately 4 million customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Consolidated Edison</span> American energy company

Consolidated Edison, Inc., commonly known as Con Edison or ConEd, is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $12 billion in annual revenues as of 2017, and over $62 billion in assets. The company provides a wide range of energy-related products and services to its customers through its subsidiaries:

Commonwealth Edison, commonly known by syllabic abbreviation as ComEd, is the largest electric utility in Illinois, and the primary electric provider in Chicago and much of Northern Illinois. Its service territory stretches roughly from Iroquois County on the south to the Wisconsin border on the north and from the Iowa border on the west to the Indiana border on the east. For more than 100 years, Commonwealth Edison has been the primary electric delivery services company for Northern Illinois. Today, ComEd is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation, one of the nation's largest electric and gas utility holding companies. ComEd provides electric service to more than 3.8 million customers across Northern Illinois. The company's revenues total more than $15 billion annually.

The Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG) is a publicly traded diversified energy company headquartered in Newark, New Jersey, US established in 1985 with a legacy dating back to 1903.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern California Edison</span> Electrical utility in Southern California, United States

Southern California Edison (SCE), the largest subsidiary of Edison International, is the primary electric utility company for much of Southern California. It provides 15 million people with electricity across a service territory of approximately 50,000 square miles. However, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), Imperial Irrigation District, and some smaller municipal utilities serve substantial portions of the southern California territory. The northern part of the state is generally served by the Pacific Gas & Electric Company of San Francisco. Other investor-owned utilities (IOUs) in California include SDG&E, PacifiCorp, Bear Valley Electric, and Liberty Utilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Elevated Railway</span> Defunct public transit company serving the Boston metro area, MA, USA (1894-1947)

The Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) was a streetcar and rapid transit railroad operated on, above, and below, the streets of Boston, Massachusetts and surrounding communities. Founded in 1894, it eventually acquired the West End Street Railway via lease and merger to become the city's primary mass transit provider. Its modern successor is the state-run Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), which continues to operate in part on infrastructure developed by BERy and its predecessors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edison Illuminating Company</span>

The Edison Illuminating Company was established by Thomas Edison on December 17, 1880, to construct electrical generating stations, initially in New York City. The company was the prototype for other local illuminating companies that were established in the United States during the 1880s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exelon</span> American utility company

Exelon Corporation is a public utility headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, and incorporated in Pennsylvania. Exelon is the largest electric parent company in the United States by revenue and is the largest regulated electric utility in the United States with approximately 10 million customers. The company is ranked 99th on the Fortune 500.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constellation Energy</span> Energy company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland

Constellation Energy Corporation is an American energy company headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The company provides electric power, natural gas, and energy management services. It has approximately two million customers across the continental United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wellesley Municipal Light Plant</span> Town of Wellesley

The Town of Wellesley Municipal Light Plant (WMLP) is a town department responsible for the transmission and supply of electricity to the residents and businesses in the town of Wellesley, Massachusetts. The headquarters of the WMLP is located at 455 Worcester Street, Wellesley, Massachusetts, and shares its grounds with the Wellesley Fire Department Headquarters and Town of Wellesley Department of Public Works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Complex</span> United States historic place

The New Bedford Gas and Edison Light Complex is a historic district at 180 MacArthur Drive in New Bedford, Massachusetts. It consists of two buildings: a power generation facility that served the New Bedford area for most of the 20th century, and a historic 19th century iron foundry building. Both are on a property once owned by NSTAR, the local electric utility, on the New Bedford waterfront. The foundry building is a utilitarian three story structure built out of granite, which was built in 1856 for the Taber & Grinnell Iron Foundry. The Cannon Power Station, in contrast, is a looming presence on the waterfront, about 390 feet (120 m) long and more than 80 feet (24 m) in height. Its initial construction was in 1916, and it was repeatedly enlarged until 1950. It was built by the New Bedford Gas & Electric Light District, and generated power for the city until 1992. In 2002 it was under consideration for use as an aquarium; but these plans failed. The complex was vacant in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gould Street Generating Station</span> Former electric generating plant in Baltimore, Maryland, US

The Gould Street Generating Station was a former 100 MW electric generating plant operated by Exelon that was located on Gould Street in south Baltimore, Maryland, USA. The plant was adjacent to an elevated section of freeway I-95 and was south of the Riverside neighborhood and west of the Locust Point neighborhood of Baltimore. The plant site, located on the shore of the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River, was used for the generation of electric power for over one hundred years before being shut down on June 1, 2019. The site was purchased by Greenspring Realty Partners, Inc. for $3.1 million in December 2019. Demolition began in October 2020. The original brick buildings, the large storage tanks behind them, and other minor structures on the southwest portion of the property were demolished as of March 2021, but as of April 2022 the larger steel building to the northeast on the property remains. A large portion of the property was acquired by Weller Development in July 2021 and the future of the remaining structure and the property is not known.

PECO, formerly the Philadelphia Electric Company, is an energy company founded in 1881 and incorporated in 1929. It became part of Exelon Corporation in 2000 when it merged with Commonwealth Edison's holding company Unicom Corp.

Sawins Pond is a man-made pond created in the 19th century in Watertown, Massachusetts, USA. Its banks were the site of an upscale hotel, and it was a popular fishing and swimming spot. It was then used by Hood Rubber Company, and then BF Goodrich. They deposited scores of barrels onto the site, filled with rubber scraps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Springfield Generating Station</span> Power plant in Massachusetts, U.S.

The West Springfield Generating Station, also known by its corporate name EP Energy Massachusetts, LLC, was a fossil-fuel-fired power plant located in West Springfield, Massachusetts. The station was a "peaking" facility, meaning that it primarily operates during peak electrical demand. The facility consisted of two 49-megawatt (MW) combustion turbine generators fueled by natural gas or ultra low-sulphur diesel fuel, one 18 MW jet turbine that was fueled by kerosene, and one 107 MW simple-cycle steam boiler unit burning no. 6 fuel oil, ULSD or natural gas. The station also had a small auxiliary boiler for process and building heat and an emergency back-up generator.

BECO or Beco or variation, may refer to:

Unicom Corporation was an American energy holding company formed in 1994 from Commonwealth Edison after executives considered a corporate image makeover. The holding company merged with PECO Energy Company on October 23, 2000 to form Exelon.

References

  1. "Boston Edison Company History". fundinguniverse. Funding Universe. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  2. "Boston Edison Company records". hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu. Harvard Library. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Electric Vehicle Conference at Boston". Electrical World. 57 (13 April 1911): 899. 1911.
  4. 1 2 Osborne, Paul E. (2016). Corporate History of Gas and Electric Utilities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (PDF). Boston: Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.
  5. South Boston Edison Power Plant Planning Process Report
  6. Can the South Boston power plant redevelopment include housing? Question arises amid design review
  7. Southie power plant proposal cuts initial housing units by more than half
  8. Legislature may get involved in fight over housing at old power plant in South Boston