Hydro Ottawa Limited[1] is a regulated electricity distribution company operating in the City of Ottawa and the Village of Casselman in Ontario, Canada. As the third-largest municipally-owned electrical utility in Ontario, Hydro Ottawa maintains the electricity distribution systems in the city, and serves over 335,000 residential and commercial customers across a service area of 1,100 square kilometres.[2]
Hydro Ottawa was formed in November 2000 from the amalgamation of five local distribution companies (Gloucester Hydro, Goulbourn Hydro, Kanata Hydro, Nepean Hydro and Ottawa Hydro).[3] The history of the supply of electricity began in the 1880s with private electrical suppliers, became public in the early 1900s and continued in competition with private suppliers, chiefly those of Thomas Ahearn and his companies, until the 1950s.
In 1882, Electric lighting in Ottawa started in at Young's mill in LeBreton Flats (the previous year had seen Eddy's mill lit by electricity, on the Hull side). A year later, the House of Commons and the Senate were illuminated.[4]
The first electric street lighting in Canada occurred on Victoria Day, 1884 when the Peterborough Light and Power Company lit 17 arc lights on George Street in Peterborough Ontario.[5] In 1885, the Royal Electric Company (of Montreal, formed in 1884)[6] set up street lighting systems in Charlottetown and St. John's, Newfoundland.[7] Ottawa had originally intended on using this company to light the city's streets, however, council contracted Ottawa Electric Light Company (formed 1884)[6] to install 165 arc lamps[4] on the city's streets. That company, which had as a director one of its founders Francis Clemow, along with founder lumber baron G. B. Pattee,[8] had built a power station which used a water-powered generator. In May 1885, the streets of Ottawa were lit by electricity.[9]
In 1887, the Chaudière Electric Light and Power Company was formed by Thomas Ahearn, a local man and partner of Ahearn & Soper, formed in the early 1880s.[4] In 1890, there were two electrical providers, (Clemow's) Ottawa Electric Light Company, and Ahearn's company, Chaudière Electric Light and Power Company.[10]
In 1894[11] Ahearn merged Ottawa Electric Light Company, and Chaudière Electric Light and Power Company, and bought out Standard Electric Company of Ottawa (Limited)[12] in the process, naming it Ottawa Electric Company, creating a virtual monopoly on electrical services in Ottawa.[4] (Erskine Henry Bronson played a role in the development of this company).
The following decades would see a continuous struggle between the City of Ottawa and Thomas Ahearn regarding the supplying of electricity to the city. In 1899 (possibly 1901),[13] a charter was granted by the city to Consumers Electric, a rival company to Ahearn's Ottawa Electric Company. In 1905, The City purchased Consumers Electric for $200,000, ending Ahearn's ongoing attempts at acquiring the company. They renamed it "Municipal Electric Department" which was the city's public electricity provider.[4]
In 1908 Ahearn & Soper bought the Ottawa Gas Company, and with the Ottawa Electric Company formed the Ottawa Light, Heat and Power Company Limited.[4] This parent holding company wholly owned the two previous companies and would refer to Ottawa Electric as its "Ottawa Electric division" well into the new century. This meant that there were no longer outside shareholders to Ottawa Electric, but there were shareholders to Ottawa Light, Heat and Power Company.
In 1915 the "Municipal Electric Department" became Ottawa Hydro; named as the "Ottawa Hydro Electric Commission", when it joined forces with the provincial network of the Ontario Hydro Electric Commission.[4]
In 1920 Ottawa Light, Heat and Power Company Limited acquired the assets of The Ottawa Power Company, Limited which included the power plant at Victoria Island (Ottawa River) erected in 1900.[14]
In 1950 Ottawa Hydro acquired the "Ottawa Light, Heat and Power Company, Limited", removing the last private sector competitor.[15][4]
Hydro Ottawa was formed in 2000 when five municipal local distribution companies were merged: Gloucester Hydro, Goulbourn Hydro, Kanata Hydro, Nepean Hydro and Ottawa Hydro. In May 2002, Casselman Hydro also became a part of Hydro Ottawa.
Ottawa Hydro Electric Company Building - 109 Bank Street
The building at Bank Street
Ottawa Hydro Electric Company Building (Bridgehead at street level) is a Heritage building in Ottawa located at 109 Bank Street, on the south-east corner of Albert Street. It was designated as under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act in 1992. It commissioned W. C. Beattie to design this Art Deco style office building in 1934. It was Ottawa Hydro's headquarters until 1957.[16]
Current services
Hydro Ottawa provides electricity supply to its customers, by taking electricity from the provincial grid and distributing it to homes and businesses. Hydro Ottawa also offers programs to help customers conserve electricity.
Kanata is a suburb and former city within Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located about 22 km (14 mi) west of the city's downtown core. As of 2021, the former City of Kanata had a population of 98,938, with the population centre having a population of 137,118. Before it was amalgamated into Ottawa in 2001, it was one of the fastest-growing cities in Canada and the fastest-growing community in Eastern Ontario. Located just to the west of the National Capital Commission Greenbelt, it is one of the largest of several communities that surround central Ottawa.
Ontario Hydro, established in 1906 as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, was a publicly owned electricity utility in the Province of Ontario. It was formed to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity generated by private companies already operating at Niagara Falls, and soon developed its own generation resources by buying private generation stations and becoming a major designer and builder of new stations. As most of the readily developed hydroelectric sites became exploited, the corporation expanded into building coal-fired generation and then nuclear-powered facilities. Renamed as "Ontario Hydro" in 1974, by the 1990s it had become one of the largest, fully integrated electricity corporations in North America.
An electric stove, electric cooker or electric range is a stove with an integrated electrical heating device to cook and bake. Electric stoves became popular as replacements for solid-fuel stoves which required more labor to operate and maintain. Some modern stoves come in a unit with built-in extractor hoods.
Newfoundland Power Inc. is an electric utility owned by Fortis Inc. which is the primary retailer of electric power in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The company was formed by the Royal Securities Corporation of Montreal in 1924 as the Newfoundland Light & Power Company.
The electricity sector in Canada has played a significant role in the economic and political life of the country since the late 19th century. The sector is organized along provincial and territorial lines. In a majority of provinces, large government-owned integrated public utilities play a leading role in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. Ontario and Alberta have created electricity markets in the last decade to increase investment and competition in this sector of the economy.
The Chaudière Falls, also known as the Kana:tso or Akikodjiwan Falls, are a set of cascades and waterfall in the centre of the Ottawa-Gatineau metropolitan area in Canada where the Ottawa River narrows between a rocky escarpment on both sides of the river. The location is just west of the Chaudière Bridge and Booth-Eddy streets corridor, northwest of the Canadian War Museum at LeBreton Flats and adjacent to the historic industrial E. B. Eddy complex. The islands surrounding the Chaudière Falls, counter-clockwise, are Chaudière Island, Albert Island, little Coffin Island was just south of Albert Island but is now submerged, Victoria Island and Amelia Island,, Philemon Island was originally called the Peninsular Village by the Wrights but became an island when the timber slide was built in 1829 it is now fused to south shore of City of Gatineau, and Russell Island, now submerged, was at the head of the Falls before the Ring dam was built. The falls are about 60 metres (200 ft) wide and drop 15 metres (49 ft). The area around the falls was once heavily industrialized, especially in the 19th century, driving growth of the surrounding cities.
Thomas Ahearn, PC was a Canadian inventor and businessman. Ahearn, a native of Ottawa, Canada West, was instrumental in the success of a vast streetcar system that was once in Ottawa, the Ottawa Electric Railway, and was the first chairman of Canada's Federal District Commission in 1927. He held several patents related to electrical items and headed companies which competed for decades with Ottawa Hydro as providers for electricity in Ottawa. Ahearn co-founded the Ottawa Car Company, a manufacturer of streetcars for Canadian markets.
Toronto Hydro Corporation is an electric utility that operates the electricity distribution system for the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As of 2018, it serves approximately 772,000 customers and delivers approximately 19% of the electricity consumed in Ontario.
Thomas Franklin "Frank" Ahearn was a Canadian businessman and politician. Ahearn is best known as an owner of the original Ottawa Senators National Hockey League (NHL) hockey club and a Canadian Member of Parliament.
Erskine Henry Bronson was an American-born Canadian businessman and political figure. He represented the riding of Ottawa in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1886 to 1898.
Katimavik-Hazeldean is a neighbourhood in Kanata South Ward in the west end of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the former City of Kanata which amalgamated into Ottawa in 2001. It is located in south-central Kanata, bounded by Eagleson Road to the east, Hazeldean Road to the south, the Carp River to the west, and Highway 417 to the north.
GE Canada is the wholly-owned Canadian unit of General Electric, manufacturing various consumer and industrial electrical products all over Canada.
The history of electricity sector in Canada has played a significant role in the economic and political life of the country since wide-scale industrial and commercial power services spread across the country in the 1880s. The development of hydropower in the early 20th century has profoundly affected the economy and the political life in Canada and has come to symbolize the transition from "old " industrialism of the 19th century to a "new", modern and diversified, Canadian economy.
The history of Ottawa, capital of Canada, was shaped by events such as the construction of the Rideau Canal, the lumber industry, the choice of Ottawa as the location of Canada's capital, as well as American and European influences and interactions. By 1914, Ottawa's population had surpassed 100,000 and today it is the capital of a G7 country whose metropolitan population exceeds one million.
Ottawa Electric Railway Company was a streetcar public transit system in the city of Ottawa, Canada, part of the electric railway streetcars that operated between 1891 and 1959. Ottawa once had tracks through downtown on Rideau Street, Sparks Street and others, and extended outside of the downtown core to provide services that helped form communities such as Westboro, Old Ottawa South and The Glebe. Prior to this, starting in 1866, public transportation was provided by Ottawa City Passenger Railway Company, a horse-drawn tram service. The O.E.R. was taken over by the Ottawa Transportation Commission in 1948, which was itself succeeded by OC Transpo in 1973.
Cornwall Street Railway Light and Power Company Limited, operating as Cornwall Electric, is an electricity transmission and distribution utility, licensed by the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to operate in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada. Originally established in 1887 as the Stormont Electric Light and Power Company and merged with the Cornwall Electric Street Railway Company in 1905, it is one of the oldest utilities in Canada.
West Ottawa Soccer Club was a Canadian women's semi-professional soccer club based in Kanata, Ontario, just west of Ottawa that competed in the women's division League1 Ontario. The club continues to operate as a youth club.
References
↑ "Terms of Use". Hydro Ottawa. This Site is operated by Hydro Ottawa Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Hydro Ottawa")
Brault, Lucien (1946), Ottawa Old and New, Ottawa historical information Institute, OCLC2947504
Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (2000), Ottawa: a guide to heritage structures, Ottawa: City of Ottawa: Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee, ISBN0-9686507-1-6
Taylor, John H. (1986), Ottawa: An Illustrated History, J. Lorimer, ISBN978-0-88862-981-4
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