The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

first faint electric light amazedacton residents at turn of century the acton free press wednesday may 31 1967 ftj the flrst electric tantp fllck- r on in acton well before tarn of the century when a travelling professor kent drew a big audience of adroir- lag actonians for a demon stration of what the future had in store the deft profes sor had a little portable gener ator and he staged his display in the old temperance hall on church st it wasnt so many years af terward that bare electric light bulbs dangling from new wire replaced oil lamps in a few lucky homes and shops in the upandcoming village aa efficient steam power generator was installed in the building where the free press is now and for many years the town had its own engineer by 1908 there were between 30 and 40 users of electricity and there was some street corner feeling they should be meter ed they were beginning to use so much power in the beginning the gener ator was simply shut down at night and there was no pow er after 10 pm an hour when all respectable citizens should be home bjr 1912 actons own power plant was in an overloaded condition and entirely inade quate to the needs of the grow ing village how about hydro electric power from niagara falls for acton tads solution was first in troduced in january 1912 when at council the bylaw to pro vide 8300 for the purpose of completing and equipping the old power plant to distri bute electric power in the vil lage of acton and to authorize debentures for that amount was introduced doughty councillors of 12 were reeve hynds john ken nedy c c speight dr e d ault a e nicklin john ken- ney and william johnstone there being a considerable gathering of leading citizens present the free press re- ports reeve hynds gave a very lucid and interesting re sume of the benefits to be de rived by the municipality from the installation of the hydro- electric power discussed were costs and re venue at a well attended public meeting reeve hynds declar ed we call it a municipal plant and find ourselves obli ged to refuse electric lighting privileges td scores of our cit izens who have a right to de mand installation to secure an adequate sup ply of current independent of hydro electric connection would cpst just as much as the hydro electric system and we would still have to shovel coal and pay for the wear and tear of expensive machinery with the hydroelectric tie- in acton would have improv ed street lighting he promis ed and maybe the lights could even stay on all night those present 66 street lights of 32 candlepower could be upped to 120 lights with the power of 100 count them 100 candles each and if ac tons future really hummed they could double the num ber reeve hynds had the citiz ens full attention in the town hall as he went on to predict grandly we can do awav with the present inadequate swing ing lights and have the mod ern lights from neat brack ets or clusters of brackets and utilize the new tungsten lamps and neat shades simi lar to those used in the larger towns and cities thin of it people in town then there were 1400 lights gleaming only when necessary of course with only adequate power for 750 with the new service there would be power for 3000 lights and the power could be left on 24 hours a dayl the ladies held onto their bonnets and- the gentlemen beamed as the reeve continued with his great vision mot ors washing machines sewing machines electric irons a nd breakfast toast electrically produced the new system would more than double the 1911 total rev enue of 3750 for power and rates could gradually be redu ced he promised whatever happened to that one members of council did all this work free of charge for love of the town he told one cautious questioner eager rockwood residents present said they hoped for a connection from acton they wanted street lights even farmers were beginning to vi sualize the possible benefits of electric power the vote was almost unan imous triumphed the paper never before in the history of actons municipal career was any bylaw entailing the expenditure of money carried with such a degree of unanim ity one hundred and fiftyseven progressive actonians voted yeas but there were eight oldfashioned heel draggers who cast nays the famed sir adam beck himself promptly wrote the town fathers the construction of the hvdro line to acton would begin without delay he added negotiations were derway with milton georger town and rockwood too the free press of march 7 1912 exulted watch acton grow hydro electric power new electric railway manu factories enlarging new busi nesses coming customs of fice the coming season will be a busv one on april 30 1912 the con tract was signed for the sup ply of up to 200 hp from the ontario hydro the system went into operation in 1913 with a demand of 141 hp in the first full year of operat ion there were 272 customers six months after the water works were installed in acton it was decided to change the hydroelectric commission to a public utilities commission to handle both power and wa ter a front page headline in the free press made the edit ors opinion pretty clear the public utilities bvlaw should receive approval of the rate payers of acton for economys sake the reeve and councillors also placed an ad on the front page yes the front page saying vote for the public utilities bylaw for more econ omic and efficient administra tion advantages promised were one superintendent in stead of two one office and staff for all the work all ac counts payable there electric and water meters read at one visit and a satisfactory com mission system proven in other municipalities so in december 1926 ac ton hydro electric commis sion was replaced by a public utilities commission when the bylaw was put to the pub- ontario hydro like beaevoleat watchdog n chairman ted tyier presides at the meetings of the acton hydro commission in the spacious panelled board room of the new buildirg from left commission members are doug dawkins secretary audrey urquhart superintendent doug mason standing chairman tyler orville brown and wilf aaceachern staff photo just how do hydro council and ontario hydro fit togeth er on the family tree of ad ministration ontario hydro serves the acton commission two wavs one is in the role of a bene volent watchdog over capital expenditures and rate charg es and the other a free con sulting service all resources of ontario hvdro are at the disposal of all commissions any town under contract to purchase power from ontario hydro is compelled to form a hydro commission or a utilit ies commission theres no choice then this commission has the same power as is vested in any other elected municipal body they have the authority to decide such things as rent salaries standards of mainte nance materials and anv oth er things without an inter ference either from the coun cil or ontario hydro the town council has auth ority over debenture issues and onrer honoraria paid com missioners it is also explain ed that in theory ontario hy dro has final consent over all capital expenditures made by the commission as thev must approve the rates charged win to public hydro meetings are open to tfte pdbttc few observers ever attend and the public is gen- eraly r by the our trucks flit the bays in the spacious r workshop and garage in the new hydro building from loft the ln truck with its bucket attachment has dorson frlzzall alongside the service truck has superintendent doug mason betide it the meter reader and auxiliary service van has herb ritchie beside it and the standby line vehicle is manned here by ken hodgson lie and passed its passing had been especially urged by councillor thetford who had charge of the waterworks de partment the waterworks is now be ing put on a paying basis the free press of december 1926 reports and especially if the public utilities bylaw is adopted next week came the election with a turnout of onlv 340 el- ectorsr however the public utilities bvlaw passed coun cillors elected that same day were l e atkinson john ni- col e it thetford and frank holmes reeve was am os mason the first puc comprised l g king as chairman with members e j hassard and reeve amos mason char les w wilson was superinten dent and miss bertie speight was secretary treasurer of these only mr king is still alive he lives in sudbury meetings were held in the hydro shop then bbt when the y building was opened in 1935 the pu office was es tablished where the town of fice is now during the many vears that mr wilson was superintend ent high standards were maintained and many im- proxements made such as the automatic tumingon of the street lights to coincide with the coming of darkness which mr wilson devised himself he utilized the electric eye principle which was then in us infancy waterworks accounts were handed over bv town council to the new group with the increase inwork the puc soon decided to discontinue the handling of general electrical stock at the shop on mill st and to con fine the stock carried to small accessories daily needed such as bulbs plugs and electrical irons in 1941 the town treasur er and tax collectors office was added hydro and waterworks dut ies were divided in 1947 with mr wilson in charge of the hydro and jack lambert in charge of the waterworks more came into the office the next year when a clerks otticc was included in 32 the towns sewage sys tem was turned over to the waterworks department and the main st well was turned in to the system that same year acton puc was dissolved m 1952 by plebiscite 365 in favor of dissolution and 201 against the newly tormed hydro electric commission held its inaugural meeting in january 1960 with chairman ted tyler sr icechairman gord beat- t commissioners dr f g oakes g f mccutcheon and maor w h cook bv this time there were 1 297 customers of all classes and the domestic load had grown to 455 kilowatt hours per month the alice st property where the new building is located was bought from the town in 1960 the two substations were bought from ontario hydro in 1959 and 1960 no 1 substat ion was converted from 25 to 60 cycle in 1963 hopes for a new hydro building built around the al ice st workshop waxed and waned with cost estimates a constant source of meeting discussion in the former rent ed office on elgin st at the present time the commission serves 1247 dom estic 71 commercial and 40 industrial customers with a staff of six the system now includes two transformer stat ions and 19 miles of line with in the town limits the monthly power use has risen to 625 kilowatt hours per month at an average cost of 1 i cents per kilowatt hour and thus the history of light in acton is brought up-to- date congratulations to the citizens of acton and the acton hydro commission on your new hydro building we are pleased to have been chosen as the architects to design this fine new modern building donald e skinner 20 stavebank rd architect port credit ontario carol made this dress for 1365 1366 if you include the electricity when carol makes full use of electricity in her home dressmaking she gets quite a bargain her electric sewing machine can make thou sands of stitches for less than a cents worth of electricity sewing isnt the only bargain you get with electricity today it has hundreds of uses that didnt exist a generation ago yet surprisingly enough the average unit cost is laas now than it was then as a matter of fact you pay leas for electricity in ontario than you would almost any where else in the world thats why electricity a the biggest bargain in your family budget the above example is based of the average cost to ontario municipal residential customers of 1 13 net per kilowatthour the official opening of the acton hydroelectric commissions new offices on june 3rd will mark yet another part of progress an advancement in service to help you live better electrically jk x