1887

Use of electricity in Oshawa began when some enterprising citizens, E.S. Edmondson, J.L. Guy, and K.L. Murton created an arc lighting system for the little town and formed Oshawa Electric Light Company. On September 12, 1887 the electric lights were turned on for the first time for 15 arc light posts and the local businesses surrounding the light posts.

1887

Originally the company operated in conjunction with a flour mill located on St. Lawrence Street, just south of Mill Street. The greater part of the power was developed by steam augmented by a small water power plant supplied from a dam in the Oshawa Creek. A steam engine and boiler system was available for back up should there ever be a water shortage in Oshawa Creek. Electricity was only available between dusk and dawn unless it was a bright moonlight night then it would be left off.

1892

The mill was completely destroyed in a fire. It was rebuilt minus the flour mill and then sold to Stark Electric Co of Toronto. This company made one important change in the system. The arc lights were replaced with incandescent ones. The plant now has a load capacity of 600 kilowatts, being a 52 volt, 133 cycle system that served 400 customers.

1895

Oshawa Railway Co. was built and it was decided that the cars should be operated by electrical power produced by Oshawa Electric Light Co. The first section opened on June 13, 1895. The entire town’s population turned out to watch Car # 12 trundle proudly down Simcoe Street on its first trip.

By August of that year the track had been extended to the Port on Lake Ontario and a large park was built there. This attracted a lot of tourists and visitors who would arrive by passenger ships from Toronto to picnic at the lake and also ride the train. On occasion, the electrical plant could not handle the load and the street cars would stall and have to be rescued by horses that would pull the cars back to the lake. As a result, Oshawa Railway Co. built their own electrical plant on Mill Street that was powered by steam.

March 26 1904:

Public Water Supply installed under a commission was elected and composed of W.F Cowan, Robt. McLaughlin, Robert McCaw, Dr. T.E Kaiser and F.L Fowke as Mayor-elect.

The Water Commission was in place until the City repealed the election of the Water Commission and the responsibility of the water system fell under the Public Utilities Commission January 1, 1930.

1909- Trouble Crew

1911

Oshawa Electric Light Co. was purchased by the Seymour Power Co. Electricity for both light and power for residential customers was made available, for the first time, on a 24 hour basis. The cost of electricity was around 15 cents per kwh.

1916

Oshawa Electric Light Co. was purchased along with many other systems under the control of the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario (set up in 1905). During the years following the First World War when Oshawa expanded to become a thriving industrial city, the demand for more light and power increased by leaps and bounds.

1924

March 8, 1924 reported that the power and lighting was 4300K.W or 5700 H.P, serving 4000 customers and operating 700 street lights

1927

Discussions began in Oshawa City Council about purchasing the local gas distribution system and the electric distribution system.

Left: Construction truck equipped with chains for muddy roads. The Court Street Transformer Station appears in the right background.

May 20, 1929

Oshawa City Council passed a by-law to authorize a vote on purchasing the Oshawa electric distribution system and to establish a public utilities commission. After 2 years of negotiating since discussions began the purchase was finalized and the City purchased the electrical distribution system for $310,000 and the gas distribution system for $210,000. The Electric and Water Departments became joint responsibility of the new Commission.

January 6, 1930

The first Public Utilities Commission was elected from a population in Oshawa of almost 25,000 people and commenced operation in the old location at 26 King Street West.

These rented quarters were inadequate and one of the first objectives for the new Commission was to find more suitable office headquarters.

1933

First Hydro Rental Water Heater Program was instituted which was operated until after WWII ended in 1945. The program was provided again from 1959 to 1966.
Left: Work Crew

1940-1960

Population (increase 140%) and demand for electricity (increase 600%) and water (increase 180%) drastically increased.
Left: Electric crews 1940

1957

The Ontario government began to promote electric heating of homes. The Oshawa Commission quickly followed suit and created a sales department to obtain a substantial share of the heating market. The first residential electric heating installation in the city was in a model home at 824 Glencairn Street

1962-1965

1962: First all-electric apartment building (The Governor’s Mansion) with 35 suites was built
1963: Left: Vehicles
1964: The Auto Worker’s Credit Union erected the first commercial building with an electric heat-pump.
1965: First all-electric subdivision (Rosslyn Heights) of 160 homes commenced building
Winter of 1964-65: Winter of 1964-65: Concentrated electric heating loads in certain areas of the City created low voltage problems and therefore the existing 4160 volt distribution system was replaced with a 13.8KV distribution system

June 1968

The Commission became involved with computerized data processing for the time when it entered into an agreement with the IBM Data Centre in Toronto to process customer billing and accounts receivable control. It later signed an agreement with Honeywell Information Systems for the supply of necessary data processing equipment on a rental basis.

1970

The Commission began offering billing, collections and election polling services to outside utilities and municipalities to generate revenue outside of the utility’s operations. For several years the OPUC also provided data processing service to other utilities such as Barrie, Bowmanville, Deep River and Pickering among others. This same computer, dubbed “Hilda” also automated the City of Oshawa’s municipal election for the very first time in 1970.

1973

The Equal Billing Plan was introduced as a convenience to electric heating customers. Original enrollment of 1,000 customers proved to be so successful that enrollment jumped up to 3,500 customer after the first summer.

By this time the Commission was producing 27,000 bills per month, 14,000 for Oshawa customers and 13,000 for other utilities. The price per kwh is 1.43 cents.
Left: Inside OPUC Office Building

January 1974

Water supply in Oshawa & other municipalities became the responsibility of the Regional Municipality of Durham.

The Public Utilities Commission continued to provide administrative support for the Region of Durham and to operate electricity and transit.

September 1980

Employees with the support of management organized an open house for the public to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Commission. There were demonstrations of pole climbing, pole top rescue as well as transformer, lighting and safety displays. Oshawa Transit also provided displays.

1996

Oshawa City Council passed a by-law to create the Oshawa Transit Commission. After 36 years of managing the Transit Department it was then transferred to the new Commission. The Utility Commission continued to provide administrative support until January 1, 2000