Boston Gas Co history

In 1843, Manchester’s Corporation becomes the first ever municipal undertaking.

1847: Springfield Gas Light Company is formed.

The oldest of these was the Worcester Gas Light Co., formed in 1849 after winning a contract to provide gas street lighting along Main Street in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Another early member of the future system, New Bedford Gas Co., was incorporated in 1850.

The Cambridge Gas Light Company was formed on March 15, 1852, as a result of a legislative act that was passed by the General Court of Massachusetts and signed by Massachusetts Governor George S. Boutwell.

While, for a short period, the company operated both its original plant and the Broad Canal plant, the former works was abandoned by 1874.

One of the earliest companies created to provide street lighting in the United States was an ancestor of Bay State: the Springfield Gas Light Company, formed in 1847 and chartered in 1848. It is not known when the Massachusetts company moved beyond street lighting to begin providing residential service for illumination, but according to its records Springfield Gas ran steam lines in order to provide gas heat to buildings in 1878.

Yet another early unit was Cambridge Electric Light Co., organized in 1886 as one of the first electric utilities in the United States.

The company began heating homes in 1916.

Eastern Enterprises was founded in 1929 when the Massachusetts Gas Company and some units of Koppers Company of Pittsburgh formed a voluntary association under the name Eastern Gas and Fuel Associates.

Gross income came to $2.8 million in 1939 and net income to $298,424.

By 1940 the New Bedford Gas & Edison Light Co. subsidiary was accounting for more than half of the system's electricity sales, followed by Cambridge Electric Light Co.

In addition to the weather problems, the Water Products group was hit hard by tight credit, which reduced housing starts to the lowest levels since 1945, and many customers retreated from their intended capital spending programs.

In 1950 it was providing electric service to about 151,000 customers in 77 communities and gas service to about 169,000 customers in 39 communities.

In 1954 New England Gas & Electric sold its New Hampshire Electric Co. subsidiary and New Hampshire's subsidiary, Kittery Electric Light Co., to Public Service Co. of New Hampshire, thereby restricting its operations to Massachusetts.

Because of consolidation, by 1960 only seven operating subsidiaries remained in the system: Cambridge Electric Light Co., Cambridge Gas Co., Cambridge Steam Corp., Cape and Vineyard Electric Co., New Bedford Gas & Edison Light Co., Plymouth County Electric Co., and Worcester Gas Light Co.

In 1961 Eastern acquired Midland Enterprises Inc. and its operating subsidiary, a small barge company named the Ohio River Company.

In 1966 New England Gas & Electric's operating revenues reached $75 million, and net income was $7.2 million.

The system's electric service was in 1967 reaching about 200,000 customers in 41 communities, while natural gas was being distributed to 177,000 customers in 44 communities, ten of which were also being served by the system's electricity.

New England Gas & Electric fully entered the atomic age in 1968, when the Yankee nuclear power plant began operations in Rowe, Massachusetts.

In March 1971 Eastern acquired the Chotin Transportation Co., an inland waterways barge line; at the same time, the company sold its fleet of coastal ships.

In January 1972 Eastern acquired by statutory merger three small gas companies serving 25,000 customers in 15 eastern and central Massachusetts towns for $5.7 million.

While the three executives planned $120 million in total capital expenditures to support growth in 1980, they nevertheless cautioned stockholders that they were concerned about uncertainties surrounding the national economy.

COM/Energy sold its interest in Algonquin Gas Transmission Co. to Texas Eastern Corp. in 1986 for $56.3 million.

In 1989 Eastern changed directions when it moved into an entirely new field by purchasing the Water Products Company for $40 million in cash.

However, it sold off this investment in 1990 for $168 million cash.

Ives later replaced Robert Weinig as chairman and chief executive officer when Weinig retired in 1991.

As Eastern entered 1992 it believed its two established core businesses, Midland and Boston Gas, were well positioned to take advantage of market opportunities.

In April 1993 COM/Electric announced that it was laying off between 150 and 175 employees in all departments to cut costs.

COM/Energy system companies owned electric-power generating facilities with capability of 1,046.5 megawatts at the end of 1994.

Merger with NIPSCO Industries: 1997-99

As part of the deal with the attorney general's office, COM/Electric agreed to refund to customers half of any earnings above 9.5 percent of revenues through 1998.

1999: NIPSCO changes its name to NiSource, Inc.